Study on the volatile profile characteristics of oyster Crassostrea gigas during storage by a combination sampling method coupled with GC/MS

In this work, a combination sampling method, including headspace solid-phase microextraction (HSSPME) and steam distillation (SD), was used to study the oyster volatiles during storage followed by GC–MS detection. Twenty and twenty seven volatile compounds of fresh and deteriorated oysters were identified respectively by HSSPME, and 16 oyster volatiles were isolated by SD. HSSPME and SD were suitable for low-boiling-point and high-boiling-point volatiles, respectively. Therefore, the combination of HSSPME and SD could obtain more species of oyster volatiles during storage than any single method. Different volatile profile characteristics during oyster storage obtained by HSSPME were specified by principal component analysis. The top ten volatiles contributing most to the difference of oyster volatile profile characteristics during storage were distilled by common model analysis. The results tentatively suggested that the difference of entire volatile profile characteristics during oyster storage would provide more precise alarming information for oyster deterioration during storage than individual volatiles.