| Abstract: | Pork of normal (5.5–5.6) and high (6.3–6.6) pH was stored in vacuum packs at 5°C until spoiled. At spoilage the bacterial flora of the normal pH meat was dominated by lactic acid bacteria, that of the high pH meat by Gram-negative organisms. Volatile compounds in the packs were analysed by a headspace entrainment technique and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Major differences between the two types of meat were confined mainly to a series of sulphur-containing compounds which were more numerous, and present in higher concentrations, in the headspaces above high pH meat. |
