Flavor and Metabolite Profiles of Meat, Meat Substitutes, and Traditional Plant-Based High-Protein Food Products Available in Australia

Kornelia Kaczmarska,Matthew Taylor,Damian Frank,Udayasika Piyasiri

doi:10.3390/foods10040801

Abstract

Demand for plant-based proteins and plant-based food products is increasing globally. This trend is driven mainly by global population growth and a consumer shift towards more sustainable and healthier diets. Existing plant-based protein foods and meat mimetics often possess undesirable flavor and sensory properties and there is a need to better understand the formation of desirable meat-like flavors from plant precursors to improve acceptance of novel high-protein plant foods. This study aimed to comprehensively characterize the non-volatile flavor metabolites and the volatiles generated in grilled meat (beef, chicken, and pork) and compare these to commercially available meat substitutes and traditional high-protein plant-based foods (natto, tempeh, and tofu). Solid phase microextraction with gas-chromatography mass-spectrometry was used for elucidation of the flavor volatilome. Untargeted characterization of the non-volatile metabolome was conducted using Orbitrap mass spectrometry and Compound DiscovererTM datamining software. The study revealed greater diversity and higher concentrations of flavor volatiles in plant-based foods in comparison to grilled meat, although the odor activity of specific volatiles was not considered. On average, the total amount of volatiles in plant-based products were higher than in meat. A range of concentrations of free amino acids, dipeptide, tripeptides, tetrapeptides, nucleotides, flavonoids, and other metabolites was identified in meat and plant-based foods.

Highlights

Published: 8 April 2021Increased consumer concern about environmental sustainability, animal welfare, and health impacts of high meat consumption are important factors influencing the increasing demand for traditional high-protein plant-based alternatives and more recent faux-meat or mimetic-meat substitutes [1,2]
While the flavor profiles of meats such as beef, chicken, or pork have been extensively characterized in literature [3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10], the flavor of high-protein plant-based products and meat substitutes have not been extensively investigated or reported
Meats from animal muscles and organs are an excellent source of high-quality complete protein and can be a source of fats and important micronutrients such as zinc, iron, and vitamin B12 [11]

Summary

Introduction

Increased consumer concern about environmental sustainability, animal welfare, and health impacts of high meat consumption are important factors influencing the increasing demand for traditional high-protein plant-based alternatives and more recent faux-meat or mimetic-meat substitutes [1,2]. With increased demand for alternative non-animal sources of protein, and a consumer-led movement towards flexitarian and more sustainable diets, it is essential to better understand the potential for formation of desirable flavors from plant protein precursors to improve formulations of novel high-protein plant foods, especially those that attempt to replicate meat-like flavor attributes. While the flavor profiles of meats such as beef, chicken, or pork have been extensively characterized in literature [3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10], the flavor of high-protein plant-based products and meat substitutes have not been extensively investigated or reported. Meat in its raw form has a relatively mild flavor and needs to be subjected to thermal processing (mainly frying, grilling, and roasting) to promote complex

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion