LAUSR

Abstract The bacterial succession, physicochemical properties and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of palletizing Harbin red sausage during a 12-day storage at 20 °C were monitored in this study. According to the results of high-throughput sequencing, 13 core dominant bacteria were identified, and Staphylococcus became the most predominant bacteria after 6 d of storage. Additionally, the physicochemical properties changed significantly, which was shown by a decrease in the a*-value, L*-value, toughness and whole hardness and an increase in the b*-value, ΔE and thiobarbituric acid reactive substance. A total of 69 key VOCs were identified from 166 VOCs during storage. According to a Pearson's correlation between core dominant bacteria and VOCs, Staphylococcus, Acinetobacter, Psychrobacter, Streptococcus, Allorhizobium, Pseudomonas and Gossypium_arboreum were positively related to 32 VOCs, such as 3-methyl-1-butanol, 1-pentanol and 1-octen-3-ol, and could be defined as specific spoilage organisms (SSOs). This study provides a systematic method for understanding the changes in bacterial succession, physicochemical properties and VOCs and predicting SSOs of Harbin red sausages during storage.