Volatile compounds associated with the spoilage of normal and high pH vacuum‐packed pork

Pork of normal (5.5–5.6) and high (6.3–6.6) pH was stored in vacuum packs at 5°C until spoiled. At spoilage the bacterial flora of the normal pH meat was dominated by lactic acid bacteria, that of the high pH meat by Gram‐negative organisms. Volatile compounds in the packs were analysed by a headspace entrainment technique and gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry. Major differences between the two types of meat were confined mainly to a series of sulphur‐containing compounds which were more numerous, and present in higher concentrations, in the headspaces above high pH meat.