RECOVERY OF PHENOLIC WOOD SMOKE COMPONENTS FROM SMOKED FOODS AND MODEL SYSTEMS

SUMMARY– Procedures for extraction, isolation, and concentration of wood smoke phenols from commercial summer sausage, laboratory smoked pork belly, and model systems were evaluated during development of methods for quantitative determination of individual phenolic compounds in smoked food products. Extraction of summer sausage with 50% aqueous ethanol, followed by thorough washing of the residue resulted in 84% recovery of added 14 C‐phenol. Additional losses occurred during isolation and concentration of a phenolic fraction, resulting in an overall recovery of 59% of the added phenol. Concentrates were prepared from 5% NaOH extracts and compared by gas chromatographic analysis with those prepared by aqueous ethanol extraction. A greater variety of substituted methoxy and dimethoxy phenols was found in the concentrates prepared from alkaline extracts. Recoveries of phenols from summer sausage, pork belly, and model systems simulating wet tissue and fat are compared.