Kinetics of volatile marker compounds during ripening of cured loins inoculated with Staphylococcus carnosus.

BACKGROUND: The current study was designed to investigate the influence of ripening time (12 weeks, 15 °C) on the volatile compounds and sensory acceptance for North European cured loins inoculated with a proteolytic Staphylococcus carnosus starter culture. RESULTS: The results demonstrated that the trend of volatile compounds, sensory acceptance and proteolytic activity increased during a ripening of 7 to 9 weeks. A further ripening led to a plateau phase for sensory attributes and aroma-relevant volatile compounds such as benzaldehyde, nonanone and acetophenone. The inoculation of the proteolytic S. carnosus LTH 3838 significantly increased aroma-relevant volatile compounds (3-methylbutanal, benzaldehyde, acetophenone, 1-octen-3-ol) and sensory acceptance up to a score 3.5 and 3.6 for the overall odour and taste by week 9. In addition, compounds such as nonanal, hexanal, 2-pentanone and nonanone, which originate from lipid oxidation, were significantly limited by S. carnosus LTH 3838. CONCLUSION: A ripening time of 7 to 9 weeks seems to be an optimal period for the production of aroma intensive smoked North European cured loins. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

Determination of volatile marker compounds in raw ham using headspace-trap gas chromatography.

A simple, reliable and automated method was developed and optimized for qualification and quantification of aroma-relevant volatile marker compounds of North European raw ham using a headspace (HS)-Trap gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and GC-flame ionization detector (FID) analysis. A total of 38 volatile compounds were detected with this HS-Trap GC-MS method amongst which the largest groups were ketones (12), alcohols (8), hydrocarbons (7), aldehydes (6) and esters (3). The HS-Trap GC-FID method was optimized for the parameters: thermostatting time and temperature, vial and desorption pressure, number of extraction cycles and salt addition. A validation for 13 volatile marker compounds with limits of detection in ng/g was carried out. The optimized method can serve as alternative to conventional headspace and solid phase micro extraction methods and allows users to determine volatile compounds in raw hams making it of interest to industrial and academic meat scientists.