Screening of volatile decay markers of minced pork by headspace-solid phase microextraction–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry and chemometrics

•HS-SPME–GC–MS used to analyze the volatile compounds of pork meat.•PCA and OPLS-DA applied to characterize the profile of volatile compounds in pork meat.•Identification of the potential volatile markers associated with the spoilage of pork.•Three compounds contribute to the discrimination of pork with different storage times. Headspace solid-phase microextraction coupled with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (HS-SPME–GC–MS) was used to analyze the volatile compounds of minced pork meat during storage. The origin of aromatic hydrocarbons in pork was verified by migration test. Principal component analysis (PCA) and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) were applied to characterize the profile of volatile compounds in pork meat and identify the potential volatile markers associated with the spoilage of pork. A total of 41 compounds were identified. Migration test showed that the aromatic hydrocarbons in raw pork are from packaging. Three compounds: ethanol, 2,3-butanediol and 2-ethyl-1-hexanol were selected based on the loading plot and their variables importance in the projection (VIP) values, since they contribute mainly to the discrimination of pork with different storage times. These compounds can be used as additional indicators for quality control of pork.