Abstract: In order to provide valuable information for improving the flavor of large-scale fermented soy sauce products, the dynamic changes of flavor components in high-salt dilute-state soy sauce during the mechanized brewing process were studied. The types and relative contents of flavor components in the mash at different brewing stages were analyzed by gas chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-TOF-MS). A total of 210 components were detected, including amino acids and their derivatives, organic acids, sugars and their derivatives, alcohols, esters, amines and other substances. Heat map and principal component analysis (PCA) were used to explore the differences in the flavor of the samples at different brewing stages. The results showed that the fermentation process had a significant effect on amino acids and their derivatives as well as sugars and their derivatives, which contributes to the sweetness of soy sauce, and the sample collected on Day 1 also had a significant effect on organic acids, amines, lipids and other substances, which contribute to the modified flavor. Amino acids and their derivatives were the most abundant flavor compounds in soy sauce.

Key words: high-salt dilute-state soy sauce; gas chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry; non-volatile?flavor?components; volatile?flavor?components; dynamic change