Abstract：Physicochemical properties and flavor compounds of three kinds of smoke-cured bacon in Guizhou province were analyzed to investigate differences in quality characteristics of commercial and home-made smoke-cured bacon. The results showed that the smoke-cured bacon had moisture contents of 22%–30%, pH values of 6.0–6.4, NaCl contents of 6.0%–7.2%, nitrite contents of 10.25–11.15 g/kg which were lower than the maximum allowable level, total nitrogen contents of 10.7– 13.3 g/100 g, amino acid nitrogen contents of 0.196%–0.231%, non-protein nitrogen contents with 905–1 204.5 mg/100 g, and volatile basic nitrogen contents of 40–58 mg/100 g. Besides, 15 free amino acids were detected in the smoked bacon among which the contents of histidine, proline, glutamic acid, cysteine and alanine were relatively higher. A total of 21, 34 and 38 volatile flavor compounds were detected in smoke bacon samples C, B and A by GC-MS, respectively. The contents of some volatile flavor compounds in the three kinds of smoke-cured bacon differed including alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, esters, acids, alkanes, olefin and sulfur and heterocyclic compounds among which alcohol, guaiacol, L-linalool, P-cresol, 2-furfuryl methanol and phenol made greater contribution to the flavor of smoke-cured bacon.
