Technical note: Characterization of key volatile odorants in rabbit meat using gas chromatography mass spectrometry with simultaneous distillation extraction

This study explored the key volatile compounds in both male and female rabbit meat. Simultaneous distillation extraction with dichloromethane was adopted to extract the volatile compounds in Hyla rabbit meat. A total of 35 volatile compounds were identified by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry and quantified with 2, 4, 6-thimethylpyridine as internal standard. Seventeen volatile aldehydes, 4 alcohols, 2 ketones, 2 acids, 1 heterocyclic compound, 2 alkanes and 7 esters were detected. Hexanal, heptanal, octanal, nonanal, (E, E)-2, 4-decadienal, 1-octen-3-ol and (Z)-2-decenal were the key odorant compounds, with high relative odour activity value. Furthermore, the concentration of volatile compounds in male rabbit meat was higher than that in female rabbit meat.