Rice vinegars of different origins: discriminative characteristics based on solid‐phase microextraction and gas chromatography with mass spectrometry, an electronic nose, electronic tongue and sensory evaluation

Eight kinds of commercial rice vinegars from Korea, China and Japan were selected to evaluate their flavour-related discriminative characteristics based on solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography with mass spectrometry (SPME/GC–MS), an electronic nose (e-nose), electronic tongue (e-tongue) and subjective sensory evaluation. Principal component analysis patterns based on SPME/GC–MS provided a clear categorical discrimination among the vinegars of three origins. The distribution patterns of the samples were similar between SPME/GC–MS and e-nose analyses and Korean vinegars were clearly discriminated. A high correlation coefficient was determined between SPME/GC–MS and e-nose on acetaldehyde (0.948) and diacetyl (0.970). e-Tongue-based principal component analysis patterns were subdivided into three regions according to the origin, and Chinese vinegars were clearly discriminated. Sensory panelists recorded origin-specific scores on flavours for all the samples. In conclusion, SPME/GC–MS, e-nose and e-tongue analyses may be useful for discrimination of flavour profiles of rice vinegars of different producer origin. Copyright © 2017 The Institute of Brewing & Distilling