THE EFFECT OF STAGE OF RIPENING AND PACKAGING ON VOLATILE CONTENT ANDFLAVOR OF DRY SAUSAGE

The effect of stage of ripening and packaging on the content of volati le compounds and flavour of industrial dry sausages was studied. The s ausages were ripened for 30 days in a dry chamber and then stored for another 30 and 60 days with and without packaging, respectively. Packa ged products were stored in plastic films with a modified atmosphere o f nitrogen (80%) and carbon dioxide (20%). Volatile compounds were ana lysed by dynamic headspace sampling-high resolution gas chromatography -mass spectrometry (DHS-HRGC-MS). Sensory analysis was performed by tw elve trained assessors. Effects of factors on instrumental and sensory data were studied by principal component analysis and by analysis of variance. DHS-HRGC-MS measurements allowed us to identify and quantify 75 volatile compounds which originated from seasonings, lipid oxidati on, carbohydrate and amino acid catabolisms. Preliminary results showe d that between 60 and 90 days of ripening, the quantities of extracted volatile compounds decreased whilst product sensory characteristics r emained constant. Packaging considerably affected the volatile compoun ds released by fermentation of carbohydrates. It restricted the format ion of acetic acid, 1,3-butanediol and 2,3-butanediol but favoured the production of ethanol, diacetyl (butter aroma) and acetoin. The senso ry analyses clearly show that packaged products have a more intense '' raw meat'' aroma, a less distinct ''dry sausage'' aroma and ''salty'' taste and, to a lesser degree, a more pronounced ''butter'' aroma and a weaker ''acid'' characteristic. Copyright (C) 1997 Published by Else vier Science Ltd on behalf of the Canadian Institute of Food Science a nd Technology.