## 3 Results
### Volatile Organic Compound Profiling  
A total of 186 VOCs were detected across the different European fermented meat products examined, of which 25% were terpen (e.g., limonene, career, and ppinene), 16% were aromatic hydrocarbons (e.g., 3-methylphenol and eugenol), 10% were esters (e.g., methyl butanoate and methyl octanoate), 9% were alcohols (e.g., 2,3-butanediol and 1-octen-3-ol), and 9% were ketones (e.g., acetoin). Minor VOCs consisted of aldehydes (e.g., 3-methylbutanal, hexanal, and nonanal), alkanes (e.g., octane and decane), carboxylic acids (e.g., acetic acid and 2-methylbutanoic acid), furans (e.g., furfural), sulphuric compounds (e.g., diallyl sulphide), and nitrogen compounds (e.g., 2,6-dimethylpyrazine) (Figure S1). Despite individual products displaying differences in their VOC profiles, no VOC profiles or specific VOCs could be linked to either the country of origin or the prevailing microbial communities of the products or to distinct processing conditions using PERMANOVA.  
Figure 3: Distribution of amplicon sequencing variants (ASVs) of a partial region of the _tuf_ gene assigned to staphylococcal species in selected commercial fermented meat products originating from BE (Belgium), DE (Germany), ES (Spain), FR (France), and IT (Italy), with “a” and “b” annotations in the sample names representing biological duplicate samples from the same product. RM3 represents the mock community used to check the performance of the PCR assay and subsequent sequencing.  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l l l l} \hline \hline \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Sample**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Culture-Dependent Method**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Amplicon-Based HTS Method**} \\ \multicolumn{1}{c}{**(Total Number of Isolates)**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Amplicon-Based HTS Method**} \\ \hline BE1 & S. _c.arrows_ (18) & _S. carnosus_, _S. viithilusus_, _S. xylosus_ \\ BE2 & S. _c.arrows_ (29) & _S. carnosus_, _S. saprophtivics_, _S. xylosus_ \\ BE3 & n.a. 1 & _S. carnosus_, _S. pastenari_, _S. saprophtivics_, _S. sciuri_, _S. xylosus_ \\ DE1 & S. _c.arrows_, _S. gallmann_, _S. sciuri_, _S. xylosus_ \\ DE2 & S. _c.arrows_ (20) & _S. carnosus_, _S. euorum_, _S. xylosus_ \\ DE3 & S. _c.arrows_ (15) & _S. carnosus_, _S. euorum_, _S. gallinarum_, _S. lertus_, _S. saprophtivics_, _S. sciuri_, _S. xylosus_ \\ ES1 & S. _e.porum_, _S. saprophtivics_ (21) & _S. artalte_, _S. carnosus_, _S. euorum_, _S. gallinarum_, _S. saprophtivics_, _S. sciuri_, _S. xylosus_ \\ ES2 & S. _c.arrows_, _S. euorum_, _S. xylosus_ (5) & _S. carnosus_, _S. euorum_, _S. gallinarum_, _S. saprophtivics_, _S. sciuri_, _S. xylosus_ \\ ES3 & S. _e.quorum_ (14) & _S. carnosus_, _S. euorum_, _S. gallinarum_, _S. saprophtivics_, _S. sciuri_, _S. xylosus_ \\ FR1 & S. _e.quorum_, _S. xylosus_ (23) & _S. carnosus_, _S. euorum_, _S. saprophtivics_, _S. xylosus_ \\ FR2 & S. _e.quorum_, _S. xylosus_ (13) & _S. carnosus_, _S. villiulins_, _S. xylosus_ \\ FR3 & S. _e.quorum_, _S. xylosus_ (10) & _S. carnosus_, _S. euorum_, _S. saprophtivics_, _S. xylosus_ \\ IT1 & S. _e.quorum_, _S. xylosus_ (12) & _S. euorum_, _S. scriorum_, _S. gallinarum_, _S. kossii_, _S. saprophtivics_, _S. sciuri_, _S. xylosus_ \\ IT2 & S. _xylosus_ (13) & _S. carnosus_, _S. euorum_, _S. gallinarum_, _S. kossii_, _S. saprophtivics_, _S. sciuri_, _S. xylosus_ \\ IT3 & S. _xylosus_ (20) & _S. euorum_, _S. saprophtivics_, _S. vitalinus_, _S. xylosus_ \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}  
* data not available.  
\end{table}
Table 3. Comparison of the _Staphylococcus_ (_S._) species diversity in selected commercial fermented meat products obtained using culture-dependent methods (data obtained from [PERSON] et al., 2019) _versus_ the use of the amplicon-based high-throughput sequencing (HTS) method targeting the _twf_ gene (present study). Fermented meat products originated from BE (Belgium), DE (Germany), ES (Spain), FR (France), and IT (Italy).