Abstract: To investigate the effect of combined thermal and high-pressure treatment on the flavor of pork, Longsissimus dorsi muscles were treated in the pressure range of 200–600 MPa and the temperature range of 20–60 ℃ for 10 min. Then the volatile compounds and flavor characteristics of samples were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and electronic nose, respectively. The results showed that a total of 141 volatile flavor compounds were identified in different samples, including aldehydes, ketones, alcohols, esters, acids and alkanes. Compared with the control group, both the number of compounds and the total peak area of the treated samples were increased, and the total peak area was increased with increasing temperature or pressure, which was mainly resulted from aldehydes, ketones and alcohols. Partial least squares regression (PLSR) analysis showed that the effect of pressure on the flavor was larger than that of temperature; the more drastic the treatment conditions were, the more significantly the flavor was changed. The results of electronic nose showed that the samples treated at 600 MPa had a very different flavor from that of other samples. Thus, pressure should be controlled at around 400 MPa when pork is treated with high pressure, and pork flavor was little affected at temperatures below 60 ℃.

Key words: pork, high pressure, thermal treatment, flavor