Abstract: The quality change of ghee produced in Inner Mongolia, China during storage at 4, 25 or 32 ℃ was evaluated using electronic nose, and the evaluation results were compared with the changes in sensory characteristics, acid value and POV value to explore the applicability of electronic nose for quality evaluation of ghee. The results showed that ghee at 32 ℃ had a storage life of 4 months. During this storage period, the acid value revealed an obvious increase, and the peroxide value exhibited an initial increase followed by a decline. Ghee became rancid and inedible due to rancidity during the final stages of storage. However, unobvious changes in various chemical indices of ghee were observed during storage at 4 ℃. In addition, fingerprinting analysis of headspace odor samples from ghees stored at different temperatures for the same periods was performed using electronic nose. The data obtained were analyzed using LDA (linear discriminant analysis) method to show high similarity with those obtained from physiochemical analysis, demonstrating the applicability of electronic nose for quality evaluation of ghee.

Key words: ghee, quality change, electronic nose, storage period