Foal meat volatile compounds: effect of vacuum ageing on semimembranosus muscle.

Cooked meat flavor arises through a combination of thermally generated aroma volatile and nonvolatile compounds in a matrix of muscle fiber, connective tissue, and fat. Ageing could affect meat odor, taste, and flavor by the development of odor compounds in the raw product. The aim of the work is to assess the ageing effect on the volatile compounds profile by solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis of foal meat vacuum packaged for storage at 4 °C for a period of 14 days. Only pentane and 3,7-dimethylnonane were significantly affected by ageing time (P < 0.01). Octanal and nonanal presented an increasing trend with higher values at 14 ageing days compared with six ageing days (P < 0.01). Ageing poorly affects the volatile compounds production of foal meat. Probably, 14 days is considered to be a short maturation time in vacuum packaging for foal meat. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.