Abstract:In order to determine flavor composition and characteristic flavor components of meat flavor essence and provide further information for evaluating its quality,solid phase micro-extraction (SPME) combined with comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography-time of flight mass spectrometry (GC×GC-TOFMS) was used to analyze the volatile headspace compounds in meat flavor essence. Firstly,the effects of the SPME fiber type, extracting temperature and time on the extraction efficiency were investigated and the optimal parameters were established as extracting with a 50/30 μm CAR/PDMS/DVB coated fiber at 60℃ for 30 min. Totally 167 volatile compounds in meat flavor were tentatively identified with GC×GC-TOFMS, in which including 20 esters, 32 alcohols, 25 ketones, 8 ethers, 32 aldehydes, 26 heterocyclic compounds and 24 hydrocarbons. Aldehydes, heterocyclic compounds and sulfur compounds were considered to be the most important odor-active constitutes in meat flavor, according to their flavor characteristics. Moreover, the resolution and sensitivity of GC×GC-TOFMS enabled the separation and identification of a higher number of volatile compounds compared to GC-MS, allowing a deeper flavor characterization of complex such food sample as meat flavor. This study provides a method and theoretical foundation for analysis and evaluates the volatile compounds in meat flavor essence and other kind of food matrix.