Characterization of flavor volatile compounds in industrial stir-frying mutton sao zi by GC-MS, E-nose, and physicochemical analysis

This study aims to investigate the flavor changes of industrial stir-frying mutton sao zi, a mutton product popular in the northwest of China, at different stir-frying stages. Electronic nose (E-nose) was used to recognize mutton sao zi odors at different processing time points, and the individual volatile compounds were further identified by the solid-phase microextraction (SPME) combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). A total of 105 volatile compounds were detected by GC-MS, of which 51 were major volatile compounds. Additionally, GC-MS and E-nose data of the samples were also correlated with the fatty acids, crude composition (moisture, fat, protein), and amino acids. The stir-frying time and temperature may be the critical contributors to different flavors of industrial stir-frying mutton sao zi. The signal intensities of W1S, W1W, W2S, W2W, and W3S sensors positively correlate with protein, fat, and 18 amino acids, but negatively with SFA and moisture. Hence, this study explored the flavor changes of industrial stir-frying mutton sao zi by E-nose and SPME-GC-MS for the first time, providing an insight into the industrial production and flavor control stir-frying machine of stir-frying mutton products with household flavor.