Evaluation on aroma-quality of meat of Chinese mitten handed crab (Eriocheir sinensis) by principal component analysis and cluster analysis

HS-SPME-GC-MS (Headspace solid phase micro-extraction coupled with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry) technology was applied to detect the aroma compounds from various edible parts (abdomen, claw and leg) of female Yangcheng-Lake-crabs in different grades (special, first and second) . An internal standard ( TMP ) was introduced to quantitate the concentrations of aroma compounds and the concentration data were analyzed by principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA) methods.PCA results showed that, claw and leg meat from three grades, all acquired positive S-scores (except claw meat from second grade) and could be assumed to have the better aroma-quality. Meanwhile, alcohols, ketones, furans, N-containings and aromatics had been found out to be the five characteristic aroma species which related and contributed a lot to “better quality of aroma”. With a unified consideration of edible part factor, it was found that higher grades of crabs resulted in better quality of aroma. However, claw meat acquired higher S-scores than abdomen meat and lower S-scores than leg meat. CA results showed that, aroma profile of abdomen and leg meat from three grades could be classified as one cluster. Similarly, alcohols, furans, ketones, N-containings and aromatics were in one cluster due to their high similarities. As a conclusion, consistency existed between PCA and CA results, indicating these two methods might mutual supply each other and could be used to establish a model for evaluating aroma-quality of crabmeat.