Unraveling volatilomics profiles of milk products from diverse regions in China

To distinguish Chinese milks from different regions, 13 milk samples were gathered from 13 regions of China in this study: Inner Mongolia (IM), Xinjiang (XJ), Hebei (HB), Shanghai (SH), Beijing (BJ), Sichuan (SC), Ningxia (NX), Henan (HN), Tianjin (TJ), Qinghai (QH), Yunnan (YN), Guangxi (GX), and Tibet (XZ). Headspace solid-phase microextraction coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS) combined with the electronic nose (E-nose) technology, was used to detect and analyze the volatile compounds in these milk samples. The qualitative and quantitative results identified 29 volatile chemicals, and we established a database of flavor profiles for the main milk-producing regions in China. E-nose analysis revealed variations in the odor of milk across different areas. Furthermore, results from partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) and odor activity values (OAVs) suggested that seven volatile compounds: decane, 2-heptanone, 2-undecanone, 2-nonanone, 1-hexadecanol, 1-octen-3-ol, and (E)-2-nonenal, could be considered as key flavor compounds in Chinese milk products.