STUDIES ON MEAT FLAVOR .1. QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE DIFFERENCES IN UNCURED AND CURED PORK

The aroma concentrates from uncured and cured pork were isolated by steam distillation and continuous steam distillation-extraction (SDE) methods. While the SDE method was more efficient in isolating the volatiles, the aroma concentrates of uncured meat isolated by either method had more components than those of cured meat. By use of hexanal and decanal in pentane as the respective internal standards for cured and uncured meat, quantitative estimation of the volatile constituents in uncured and cured meat was carried out by using GC-MS. The investigation indicated that hexanal, a major lipid oxidation product, was found to be present in uncured meat at a concentration of 12.66 +/- 0.08 mg/kg, while only 0.03 mg/kg was present in the cured product. Also, the concentration of other carbonyl compounds was higher in uncured pork, while they were either present in reduced amounts or not detectable in the cured meat. Similarly, of the hydrocarbons identified, the concentration of 3-methylheptane and methylcyclohexane was found to be higher in the uncured meat. 1-Nonen-3-ol, identified for the first time in uncured pork, was absent in cured pork.