Characterization and comparison of flavor compounds in different specialty chicken meat after stewing

To explore the flavor changes in specialty chicken meat after stewing, gas chromatography-olfactometry mass spectrometry (GC-O-MS) and gas chromatography ion mobility spectroscopy (GC-IMS) were used to analyze the flavor compound differences among Yellow feather chicken (YC), Lohmann powder chicken (LC), and Jianmen native chicken (JC) after stewing. Results indicated that LC had high shear force and hardness, while JC had lower protein content than YC. Regarding taste compounds, LC had higher contents of umami amino acids and AMP, whereas JC had more sweet amino acids. 13 key aroma compounds were identified by GC-O-MS, like hexanal gives JC a grassy flavor, while dimethyl disulfide affecting only LC's overall flavor. The results were further visualized using GC-IMS, indicating that the total concentration of volatile compounds in LC and JC was higher than in YC. Overall, LC and JC had excellent flavor performance than YC after stewing, with LC showing particularly prominent umami.