Volatile compounds in Spanish dry-fermented sausage 'salchichón' subjected to high pressure processing. Effect of the packaging material.

The effect of high pressure treatment (400MPa, 10min at 12°C) on the volatile profile of Spanish dry-fermented sausage 'salchichón', packaged with or without aluminium foil in a multilayer polymeric bag, was investigated. The analysis of the volatile fraction was carried out by dynamic headspace extraction coupled to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Pressure-treated samples showed significantly higher levels of alcohols, aldehydes and alkanes and lower levels of two methylketones as compared with control samples. An intense migration was observed of compounds from the plastic material into the product, mainly linear and branched-chain alkanes, alkenes and benzene compounds. Most of these migrating compounds were significantly more abundant in pressurized samples than in untreated samples.