Headspace Solid Phase Microextraction for the Analysis of Volatiles in a Meat Product:  Dry-Cured Iberian Ham

The application of solid-phase microextraction (SPME) combined with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry for the analysis of dry-cured Iberian ham volatile compounds has been studied. To determine the optimal conditions to extract volatile compounds, several extraction times and temperatures conditions were tested. The majority of the 82 volatile compounds tentatively identified coincided with those reported for different types of dry-cured ham in the literature. In addition, SPME successfully extracted high molecular weight compounds, some of them being reported for the first time in this type of meat product. Both extraction time and temperature dramatically increased less volatile compounds' chromatographic area and consequently total area ( P < 0.0001).