## 3 Results  
Significant variations were observed in the volatile fraction of raw lamb meat during storage under refrigeration, including hexanal, heptanal, and nonanal, as specified by paired samples \(t\)-test (\(p\leq 0.05\)). There was observed an increasing trend in all volatile compounds with respect to storage time, with the exception of octanal, toluene, and carbon disulfide, where fluctuations were recorded (Table 1). A typical gas chromatogram, pointing out the volatile compounds identified in the headspace of raw lamb meat is given in Figure 1.  
Figure 1: A typical gas chromatogram of raw lamb meat on day 5 of storage. Volatile compounds are numbered according to retention time given in Table 1. 1: carbon disulfide, 2: 2,2,4,6,6-pentamethyl-heptane, 3: toluene, 4: hexanal, 5: \(o\)-xylene, 6: heptanal, 7: 1-pentanol, 8: 3-octanone, 9: \(p\)-cymene, 10: octanal, 11: 1-hexanol, 12:nonanal, 13: 1-octen-3-ol, 14: 1-heptanol, 15: 1-octanol, 16: benzothiazole, 17: 15-crown ether. IS: internal standard. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline  & & & & & & & & \\ \cline{3-8}
**VOCs** & **RT** & **KI** & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Day 1**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Day 5**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Day 9**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**MSLM (\%)**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**MI**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**_p_**} \\ \cline{3-8}
**Alcohols** & & & & & & & & & \\
1-Pentanol & 11.77 & 1233 & 11.77 \(\pm\) 0.01 & 24.73 \(\pm\) 0.01 & 56.77 \(\pm\) 7.83 & 83 & MS/KI & \(p\) = 0.144 \\
1-Hexanol & 13.77 & 1342 & 27.70 \(\pm\) 0.01 & 71.29 \(\pm\) 47.72 & 236.92 \(\pm\) 19.62 & 83 & MS/KI & \(p\) = 0.224 \\
1-Octane-3-ol & 15.49 & 1459 & 96.45 \(\pm\) 0.01 & 145.40 \(\pm\) 156.77 & 397.11 \(\pm\) 25.70 & 90 & MS/KI & \(p\) = 0.151 \\
1-Heptanol & 15.59 & 1461 & 11.98 \(\pm\) 0.01 & 37.40 \(\pm\) 4.91 & 63.20 \(\pm\) 8.69 & 86 & MS/KI & \(p\) = 0.121 \\
1-Octanol & 17.29 & 1557 & 23.55 \(\pm\) 0.02 & 30.90 \(\pm\) 0.01 & 57.27 \(\pm\) 16.65 & 91 & MS/KI & \(p\) = 0.057 \\
1-Octanol & 17.05 & 1105 & 163.20 \(\pm\) 0.01 & 231.02 \(\pm\) 92.34 & 340.37 \(\pm\) 165.89 & 96 & MS/KI & \(p\) = 0.040 \\
1-Octanol & 10.34 & 1185 & 36.64 \(\pm\) 0.02 & 238.38 \(\pm\) 0.76 & 60.94 \(\pm\) 6.75 & 98 & MS/KI & \(p\) = 0.043 \\
1-Octanol & 12.60 & 1299 & 21.20 \(\pm\) 0.01 & 25.83 \(\pm\) 26.67 & 56.99 \(\pm\) 23.91 & 91 & MS/KI & \(p\) = 0.083 \\
1-Nonanal & 14.61 & 1393 & 80.98 \(\pm\) 0.04 & 94.84 \(\pm\) 1.20 & 97.52 \(\pm\) 56.52 & 91 & MS/KI & \(p\) = 0.001 \\
1-Octane & & & & & & & & \\
3-Octanone & 11.87 & 1266 & 23.44 \(\pm\) 0.02 & 36.39 \(\pm\) 46.46 & 66.98 \(\pm\) 31.91 & 95 & MS/KI & \(p\) = 0.073 \\
1-Heteroyclic & & & & & & & \\ Benzothiazole & 23.27 & 1954 & 17.24 \(\pm\) 0.02 & 24.53 \(\pm\) 0.66 & 45.52 \(\pm\) 0.30 & 91 & MS/KI & \(p\) = 0.062 \\
1-Octane & 6.57 & 1027 & 381.95 \(\pm\) 0.06 & 221.99 \(\pm\) 51.56 & 735.19 \(\pm\) 84.40 & 91 & MS/KI & \(p\) = 0.099 \\
1-Octane & 9.13 & 1164 & 25.02 \(\pm\) 0.10 & 27.24 \(\pm\) 30.36 & 72.86 \(\pm\) 9.48 & 95 & MS/KI & \(p\) = 0.114 \\
1-Octane & 12.18 & 1280 & 29.35 \(\pm\) 0.07 & 103.31 \(\pm\) 15.33 & 181.68 \(\pm\) 62.54 & 95 & MS/KI & \(p\) = 0.139 \\ _Hydrocarbons_ & & & & & & & \\
2.24,6-pentanematematy-heptane & 3.86 & \(<\)800 & 171.27 \(\pm\) 26.42 & 226.12 \(\pm\) 360.83 & 435.97 \(\pm\) 196.77 & 83 & MS & \(p\) = 0.074 \\
1-Octane & & & & & & & \\
Considerable variations in the volatile profile of raw unprocessed meat have been reported previously in numerous studies, involving the volatile profile of the raw meat of duck, goose, pork [1], beef [14; 17] and lamb [2; 15; 19]. What is worth mentioning is that the collective results of breed comparisons suggested that genetic effects on lamb flavour were minor as compared with the effects of other factors such as age, sex, feeding/diet, oxidation, lipid content, myoglobin and pH [20]. In these factors mentioned previously in the literature, the role of air packaging technology, in terms of real market analysis, in the development of raw lamb's meat aroma during storage should be also investigated.