GC-MS-Olfactometric Differentiation of Aroma-Active Compounds in Turkish Heat-Treated Sausages by Application of Aroma Extract Dilution Analysis

Aroma and aroma-active compounds of the heat-treated Turkish sausages obtained from beef, turkey, and chicken meats were studied. Aroma compounds were isolated by using solvent-assisted flavor evaporation and analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry-olfactometry (GC-MS-O) for the first time. A total of 47, 63, and 64 aroma compounds, including esters, terpenes, terpenols, aldehydes, phenols, ketones, acids, alcohols, lactones, furans, sulfur compounds, and pyrazines, were identified and quantified in the beef, turkey, and chicken sausages, respectively. The most prominent differences between the sausage samples were as follows: (E)-sabinene hydrate, beta-cubebene, 2-hexanol, 5-methyl-2-heptanol, 2-heptanol, 2-nonanol, 4-methyl-3-hexanol, and heptanoic acid were detected only in chicken sausage samples; (Z)-p-mentha-1(7)8-dien-2-ol, dimethylallyl alcohol, 1,2-ethanediol, furfuryl alcohol, furfural, 2-ethyl-6-methylpyrazine, trimethyl pyrazine, and 2(5H)-furanone were detected only in turkey sausage samples; and 2-butoxyethanol, octanoic acid, and nonanoic acid were detected only in beef sausage samples. The aroma-active compounds of sausages were elucidated by using aroma extract dilution analysis (AEDA) for the first time. A combined total of 31 different aroma-active compounds were detected. The aroma-actives with the greatest flavor dilution (FD) factors in beef (FD 1024 and odor activity value (OAV) 178.07), and chicken (FD 2048 and OAV 262.63) sausages were gamma-terpinene, and in turkey (FD 2048 and OAV 353.86) sausages were linalool.