Analysis of Shelf Life and Flavor Substances of Duck Clavicle with HS-GC-IMS Technology

Duck clavicle is very popular among consumers as snack food, however, the technical parameters about its shelf life are insufficient. In this paper, the changes of pH, TVB-N, water content and total bacterial count were studied under room temperature storage. On this basis, the volatile flavor compounds of duck clavicle were detected using headspacegas chromatography-ion mobility spectroscopy (HS-GC-IMS) combined with principal component analysis (PCA), and the flavor fingerprints around shelf life were established. The results showed that the pH appeared downtrend, and the total number of colonies, TVB-N, water were on the increasing following the growth of storage time. On the 6th day, the content of TVB-N was 21.1±1.21 mg/100 g and the total number of colonies on the 6th day was 5.82±0.08 lg CFU/g. Both of them exceeded the maximum safety limit value, so its shelf life was determined to be no more than 6 days. A total of 52 flavor substances were identified by GC-IMS technology, including 12 aldehydes, 13 alcohols, 7 ketones, 8 esters, 6 acids, 2 pyrazines, 2 furans, 1 amine and 1 hydrocarbon. Propanal, 2-methylbutyric acid, propyl acetate, ethyl butyrate and heptanal were determined as the key flavor compounds of samples at the initial stage of storage (0, 2 d). After the samples exceeded the shelf life (6 d), 2,3-butanedione, 3-hydroxy-2-butanonedimer, 2,3-pentanedione, N-nitromethylethylamine, butyric acid,propionic acid were the main flavor compounds. These volatile substances could be used as characteristic markers substances to determine the shelf-life of duck clavicle product. The shelf-life fingerprint based on GC-IMS technology would provide new technical parameters for production companies.