Relationship between volatile compounds and consumer-based sensory characteristics of bacon smoked with different Brazilian woods

Abstract Bacon is a product made from pork meat that is subjected to curing, drying, and smoking. Researchers aim to associate the worldwide high-acceptance of such a product with the sensory and chemical properties of bacon. In this context, the objective of the present study was to characterize bacon samples smoked with different woods from reforestation using chemical and sensory methodologies, which were subsequently correlated by means of statistical multi-block analysis. Volatile compounds (VCs) of the smoked bacons were studied using solid-phase microextraction (SPME) coupled with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS), and the consumer sensory perception was explored by the Napping technique. VCs were identified in smoked samples, which triggered sensory attributes related to odor, flavor, and texture, such as “smoky flavor”, “salty taste”, “pleasant taste”, “woodsy flavor”, and “hard texture”. Multi-block analysis showed that the sensory attributes were associated with a group of VCs and not by a single compound.