Identification of changes in volatile compounds in sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus during seasonings soaking using HS-GC-IMS

The flavor fingerprint of sea cucumbers was developed and volatile compounds were investigated by HS-GC-IMS. A total of 73 typical target compounds were identified. The differences of flavor compounds in sea cucumbers from different seasonings soaking samples areas were observed. After soaking, the concentration of compounds such as 1-octen-3-one and 3-methyl-2-butanol in sea cucumbers were decreased, while the concentration of representative flavor compounds in seasonings such as β-ocimene, linalool and furaneol were increased. Subsequently, PCA was performed based on the signal intensity of the identified flavor compounds, and the results clearly showed that the sea cucumbers without seasonings group and seasonings-soaked sea cucumbers samples in a relatively independent space would be well distinguished. The results showed that the flavor fingerprint of sea cucumbers was established by HS-GC-IMS and PCA based on the identified volatile compounds.