Volatile compounds of commercial Milano salami

The relationship between extracted volatiles of Milano salami, one of the main dry-cured sausages produced in Italy, and their olfactory properties was studied. Volatile compounds were extracted by a purge-and-trap method, quantified using a flame ionisation detector and identified by mass spectrometry. Olfactory analysis was performed by sniffing the gas chromatographic effluent. Nearly 80 compounds were identified and quantified: most came from spices (60.5%), 18.9% from lipid oxidation, 11.8% from amino acid catabolism and 4.9% from fermentation processes. Panellists detected 19 odours by sniffing. These odours were associated with spices, lipid oxidation or fermentation and were in agreement with the contributions of each reaction to the overall aroma of the product.