Instrumental and sensory analysis of volatile organic compounds in porcine adipose tissue

Boar taint has a major economic impact on the pig industry. A rapid method for the identification of malodour was also required by the pig industry. Electronic nose technology was thought to be a possible means for the detection of the complete odour profile of samples of boar fat. However, this was unsuccessful due to a humidity-related problem in the instrument. A more traditional method of GC-MS analysis compared with human sensory analysis was then conducted. The most widely held view is that the compounds skatole and androstenone are the main contributors to boar taint. However various studies have found that these compounds appear to differ in their contribution to boar taint and they have not always accounted for all malodour detected. A possible reason for this fact is that not all compounds have been accounted for when the analyses were made. The GC-MS analysis has confirmed that skatole and androstenone are significant contributors to boar taint, but further analysis was also conducted to determine the nature and ·extent of the effect of other compounds detected in the odour profile. This has shown that three other compounds contribute significantly to the odour of pork upon cooking. These have been identified tentatively from their mass spectra. Two of these, pentadecanal and 3-nonen-1-ol have been found to make a positive contribution to the odour profile, whilst the other 2-nonadecanone contributes in a negative manner. If only androstenone and skatole are taken into consideration when correlating chemical and sensory analysis, this accounts for only 3 7% of the variation. However when all five compounds (androstenone, skatole, pentadecanal, 2- nonadecanone and 3-nonen-1-ol) are used in the correlation, then one can account for 87% of the variation. The hitherto omission of these compounds may account for the variation in the comparison of chemical and sensory analysis of boar taint, seen in previous studies