Characterization of flavor volatile compounds in sauce spareribs by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and electronic nose

The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of electronic nose (E-nose) and gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to discriminate braised sauce spareribs with different preparations. Volatile compounds were isolated from 11 types of sauce spareribs using solid phase microextraction (SPME) and analyzed by GC-MS. Aroma and flavor compounds were also evaluated by E-nose. The crude composition (moisture, fat, protein) and fatty acids of the samples were also detected and correlated with E-nose and GC-MS data. A total of 183 volatile compounds were identified by GC-MS. E-nose can discriminate the samples well because the W1S, W1W, W2S and W2W sensors gave higher responses to all samples. The added spices, such as soy sauce, vinegar, pepper, rice wine, ginger, and zanthoxylum bungeanum may be the critical contributor for different flavors among different regions. The correlation analysis of GC-MS and E-nose confirmed that W1C, W3C and W5C sensors were sensitive to cineole, acetic acid, linalool and trans-caryophyllene. Fat exhibited strong positive correlation with 2,3-octanedione and hexanal. Furthermore, this study highlights the feasibility of evaluating flavor of braised sauce spareribs using SPME-GC-MS and E-nose.