Effect of pork fat addition on the volatile compounds of foal dry-cured sausage

The effect of fat content on volatile compounds from foal dry-cured sausage was studied. Three batches (10 units per batch) of dry fermented sausages with different pork back fat content (5%, 10% and 20%) were manufactured; low fat (LF), medium fat (MF) and high fat (HF), respectively. A total of 45 volatile compounds were extracted by purge-and-trap and identified by GC–MS in the headspace of the batches. The mixture comprised 11 terpenes, 15 esters, 14 hydrocarbons and 2 alcohols. Spices were responsible for the generation of 14 volatile compounds comprising terpenes and hydrocarbons. After 49 days of ripening volatile compounds from spices represented 52.9, 38.9 and 31.2% of the total area for samples from LF, MF and HF batches, respectively, while lipid autooxidation was responsible for the generation of 8 volatile compounds. The PCA offered a good separation of the mean samples according to their fat content.