Abstract: Objective: To explore the change of volatile components in mackerel fish before and after heating and provide a theoretical reference for the management of mackerel flavor and quality during processing. Methods: Headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was employed to analyze the volatile components in white meat and red meat of mackerel fish. Results: Totally 32, 41, 39 and 52 kinds of volatile compounds in white meat and red meat of mackerel fish as well as their heat-treated samples were detected by HS-SPME-GC-MS. Among these volatile compounds, hydrocarbons and carbonyl compounds were dominant. Hydrocarbons contributed to the overall flavor of mackerel fish and carbonyl compounds contributed to the smell of mackerel fish, of which the relative contents were 23.35%, 22.47%, 58.65% and 33.52% in original and heat-treated samples of white meat and red meat, respectively. Results: The major volatile flavor components in mackerel fish include hexanal, 2-hexenal, 2,4-heptadiene aldehyde, 2-octene aldehyde, nonanal, 2,4-kuei-diene aldehyde, 3,5-octadiene-2-ketone, 1-penten-3-ol, 1-octen-3-ol, 2-ethyl-furan and 2-pentyl furan.

Key words: mackerel, headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), volatile compounds