Abstract: The volatile components of fresh chicken bouillon, out-of-date chicken bouillon and rancid chicken bouillon were extracted by headspace solid-phase micro-extraction (SPME) and identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Sensory evaluation and an electronic nose were used to evaluate the flavor attributes of chicken bouillons. The ability of the electronic nose to differentiate chicken bouillons was evaluated by principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA). The correlation between flavor components and electronic nose was established by partial least squares (PLS). The results showed that a total of 53 flavor compounds were identified in chicken bouillons, including 3 alkenes, 6 alcohols, 4 ketones, 12 aldehydes, 6 esters, 3 aromatic compounds, 13 sulfides, 4 heterocyclic compounds and 2 other compounds. The results of sensory evaluation agreed with the electronic nose results. The flavor of fresh chicken bouillon was regarded to be more similar to that of out-of-date chicken bouillon, and they were also similar in terms of volatile composition. PLS showed that 30 flavor components exhibited good correlation with the electronic nose sensors. These findings indicated that combination of GC-MS and electronic nose with chemometrics could evaluate the olfactory flavor of chicken bouillons.

Key words: chicken bouillon, flavor components, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), electronic nose, chemometrics method