Aroma Analysis of Cooked Ground Beef and Plant-Based Meat using Automated and Optimized Dynamic Headspace Extraction with Dry Purge Function.

Aroma analysis is of paramount importance in the plant-based meat replacement industry. The ability to replicate flavors and mimic real meat is vital in appealing to consumers. To capture the full aroma profiles of cooked meat, analysts need dynamic purge techniques, such as dynamic headspace (DHS) sampling. The considerable water content in meat and other food brings risk of moisture build-up in the sorbent tube, potentially disrupting the TD-GC-MS analysis. An automated DHS option with dry purge feature, can effectively address this issue, as illustrated here using cooked ground beef and plant-based meat as examples. A workflow for optimizing DHS settings relevant to this study is presented. The aroma profiles of cooked ground beef and plant-based meat are analyzed and compared.