Evaluation of Flavor Improvement in Antarctic Krill Defluoridated Hydrolysate by Maillard Reaction Using Sensory Analysis, E-nose, and GC-MS

Antarctic krill is a high-quality animal protein resource, but the presence of fluorine limits its development. Antarctic krill defluoridated hydrolysate products (DHPs) generally have a bitter taste that is unacceptable to consumers. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the flavor of defluoridated hydrolysate. In this work, flavor improvement of DHPs by the Maillard reaction was evaluated by sensory analysis, electronic nose (E-nose), and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The potential correlations among the signals of sensory attributes, E-nose, and volatile components were analyzed using the analysis of partial least squares regression (PLSR). A total of 63 volatile compounds were identified and quantified via GC-MS. The flavors in Maillard reaction products were mainly attributed to pyrazines, aldehydes, ketones, and furans. After the Maillard reaction, the two main aromatic compounds generated were 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazin (roast odor, OAV = 32.7) and 3-(methylthio) propionaldehyde (shrimp meat odor, OAV = 16.43), which contributed to flavor improvement in DHPs. PLSR results showed a good correlation between most variables of sensory attributes, E-nose, and volatile compounds, which indicates that the overall flavor of DHPs was improved by the Maillard reaction.Abbreviations: DHPs: defluoridated hydrolysate products; MRPs: Maillard reaction products; GC-MS: gas chromatography-mass spectrometry; E-nose: electronic nose; OAV: odor activity value; SPME: solid-phase microextraction; GC-O: gas chromatography-olfactometry; PCA: principal component analysis; PLSR: partial least squares regression