A study with sensory evaluation and GC-MS/HPLC analysis on changes of flavor compounds in mutton during storage

Mutton is a popular food with a long history of consumption and high nutritional value for the minorities such as Uyghur people in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China. This study aims to investigate the changes in aroma compounds, amino acids, and nucleotides in lean, fat, and mixed samples of mutton during different storage periods. In this study, gas chromatography – mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were employed to detect the volatile and nonvolatile compounds. Systematic approaches were used to analyze the sensory property variations. The results showed that there are a number of compounds and chemicals which affect the flavor of different tissues during the different storage time. For instance from the lean samples: for day 1, day 14 and day 28, the Glu has the effect on the umami taste and with the changing concentration of 1375 ± 135 ng/ml, 855 ± 324 ng/ml and 2347 ± 194 ng/ml, respectively. Besides, aldehydes, alcohols, and ketones were the most abundant, while esters and thiazoles were less abundant during the different storage. Results of sensory evaluation showed that when the storage time increased, the sour and sulfur aromas of mutton were strong, while the fatty aroma was significantly increased and decreased in fat and lean meat. The taste of mutton became worse as the storage time increased. The best storage period was 14 days, and the flavor of all mutton sample groups was better when using a 14 day storage period.