Simultaneous distillation extraction (SDE) and solid-phase microextraction (SPME) were compared for their
effectiveness in the extraction of volatile flavor compounds from Jiayongxin preserved mutton. A GC-MS method was
developed to determine the volatile compounds extracted from Jiayongxin preserved mutton by the two methods. A total of 79
compounds were identified, including 16 hydrocarbons, 13 aldehydes, 22 alcohols, 11 ketones, 3 acids, 2 esters, 2 phenols, 3
ethers and 7 sulfur-containing compounds, nitrogen-containing compounds, and heterocyclic compounds. As demonstrated by a
comparison between both extraction techniques, a higher level of esters (28.99%) and aldehydes (17.09%) were detected using
SPME, while SDE gave rise to a higher level of aldehydes (45.50%) and alcohols (17.27%). Meanwhile, 14 compounds were
identified by both techniques, which were pentanal, hexanal, heptanal, benzaldehyde, ethanol, eucalyptol, myrcenol, terpinen-
4-ol, 3-hydroxy-2-butanone, ethyl acetate, p-cresol, anethole, 2-furanmethanol, and 2,5-thiophenedicarboxaldehyde. All these
compounds may be the important flavor compounds in Jiayongxin preserved mutton.