Development of volatiles and odor-active compounds in Chinese dry sausage at different stages of process and storage

The effect of process and storage on the volatiles and odorant profile of Chinese dry sausage was evaluated, as well as its physicochemical parameters. Microbial esterification and wine (27.54%–43.35%), and lipid oxidation (11.30%–34.92%) played a key role in flavor profile during process and storage. A significant increase of each volatile was detected during process except gradual decrease of volatiles from spices, while a gradual decrease of each volatile was detected during storage except significant increase of volatiles from lipid oxidation and esterification. 15 and 6 odor-active compounds were respectively correlated (P < 0.05) with the process and storage time. Level of heptanal, 1-octen-3-ol, the ethyl of 2-methylbutanoic, 3-methylbutanoic, butanoic, benzoic, hexanoic, heptanoic, octanoic and decanoic acid were best discriminators of process stage, while (E)-2-nonenal, ethyl hexanoate, ethyl heptanoate, and methyl decanoate, were marker compounds of storage time. An objective method was established to evaluate the stages of process and storage for samples.