Iberian dry-cured ham sliced: Influence of vacuum packaging on volatile profile during chill-storage

Packed sliced ham has become one of the most relevant new sales format, but its influence on the volatile profile of Iberian ham has not been widely studied. Hence, in this work, the influence of storage time of Iberian drycured ham vacuum packaging on the volatile profile and therefore, on its quality, was evaluated. For that, 12 samples of three white label Iberian dry-cured ham pieces from three supermarkets were analysed by headspace sorptive extraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, using 2 polydimethylsiloxano Twisters & REG;. The results showed differences between the volatile profile of vacuum packed samples with different packaging times and those which were not, mainly in alcohols and ketones. Furthermore, important changes were observed after only one week of packaging. The most of the volatile compounds affected during the storage time in vacuum packaging were related to negative sensory notes, being able to influence the quality of this product.