Physicochemical properties, aroma compounds, non-volatile metabolites and their potential correlation in Wickerhamomyces anomalus- fermented Sichuan-style sausage

Xiaohan Jia; Shengyuan Zhang; Xinping Lin; Xin Nie; Xinyue Kang; Haomou Pu; Xinyi Wang; Xinya Chen; Qiling Wang; Xinhui Wang; Xiaoping Yu; Zhiping Zhao

doi:10.1016/j.fochx.2025.102642

Physicochemical properties, aroma compounds, non-volatile metabolites and their potential correlation in Wickerhamomyces anomalus- fermented Sichuan-style sausage

Food Chem X. 2025 Jun 9:29:102642. doi: 10.1016/j.fochx.2025.102642. eCollection 2025 Jul.

Authors

Xiaohan Jia¹, Shengyuan Zhang¹, Xinping Lin², Xin Nie³, Xinyue Kang¹, Haomou Pu⁴, Xinyi Wang¹, Xinya Chen¹, Qiling Wang¹, Xinhui Wang¹, Xiaoping Yu⁴, Zhiping Zhao¹

Affiliations

¹ Meat Processing Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, College of Food and Biological Engineering, Chengdu University, Chengdu 610106, China.
² National Engineering Research Center of Seafood, Collaborative Innovation Center of Seafood Deep Processing, Liaoning Province Collaborative Innovation Center for Marine Food Deep Processing, School of Food Science and Technology, Dalian Polytechnic University, Dalian 116034, China.
³ College of Culinary and Food Science Engineering, Sichuan Tourism University, Chengdu 610100, China.
⁴ School of Preclinical Medicine, Chengdu University, Chengdu 610106, China.

Abstract

To assess the modulation of Wicker hamomyces (W.) anomalus on aroma compounds, non-volatile metabolites, and their potential correlation in Sichuan-style sausage, in this study, an isolated W. anomalus strain was used as starter cultures to prepare Sichuan-style sausages at different inoculum levels (10⁵, 10⁶, and 10⁷ CFU/g). The results showed that W. anomalus-fermented sausages exhibited reduced total plate counts and stronger antioxidant activity compared to control sausage. UHPLC-MS/MS metabolomics identified 1047 metabolites, of which 930 were characterized. Five metabolic pathways were significantly regulated by W. anomalus. GC-IMS identified 157 aroma compounds, with significant increases of all aromas except acids in W. anomalus-fermented sausages. Strong correlations were observed among physicochemical properties, common differential metabolites and differential aroma compounds (|r| > 0.8, p < 0.05). Twenty-two common differential metabolites were screened likely contributing to aroma formation. This study provides theoretical support for application of W. anomalus in improving the quality of Sichuan-style sausage.

Keywords: Aroma compounds; Correlation; Non-volatile metabolites; Sausage; Wickerhamomyces anomalus.