AROMA VOLATILES IN COOKED ALLIGATOR MEAT

Volatile components from cooked (convection oven at 176.7 degrees C fo r 30 min) alligator meat were isolated by vacuum simultaneous distilla tion and solvent extraction (V-SDE) and dynamic headspace sampling (DH S) and analyzed by gas chromatography combined with mass spectrometry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, or olfactometry. We identifi ed 56 compounds in V-SDE extracts and 13 in DHS extracts. Volatile pro files were similar for all alligator meat samples regardless of alliga tor size (length). However, concentration of volatiles increased as al ligator size increased. Most volatile compounds were lipid-derived ald ehydes, which made up 73.9-79.4% of total volatiles in V-SDE extracts and 82.4-89.2% in DHS extracts. Hexanal, the most abundant compound, a nd (Z)-4-heptenal were considered responsible for the green, grassy an d fishy, rancid off-odor of cooked alligator meat samples.