Abstract
The application of starter cultures to improve quality and safety has become a very common practice in the meat industry. Probiotic strains of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) can also bring health benefits by releasing bioactive peptides. The aim of this work was to evaluate the stability of antiradical activity of protein extracts from LAB-inoculated dry-cured pork loins during long-term aging and evaluate their hydrolysates after simulated gastrointestinal digestion. Analyses of hydrolysates by using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) were strengthened with in silico analysis. The highest antiradical activity of the protein extracts was observed after 180 days of aging. The influence of the strain used (LOCK, BAUER, or BB12) on the inactivation ability of ABTS radicals varied during long-term aging. The IC50 values indicated the higher antiradical properties of salt-soluble (SSF) compared to water-soluble fraction (WSF) of proteins. The peptides generated by in vitro digestion have MW between 700 and 4232 Da and their length ranged from 5 to 47 amino acids in a sequence where Leu, Pro, Lys, Glu, and His had the largest share. This study demonstrates that the degradation of pork muscle proteins during gastrointestinal digestion may give rise to a wide variety of peptides with antiradical properties.
Highlights
During the last several decades, the application of starter cultures has become a common practice in the production of more consistent and stable fermented meat products in order to improve their quality and safety, reduce variability, and enhance sensory characteristics
lactic acid bacteria (LAB) influence the sensory characteristics of the fermented meats by producing small amounts of acetic acid, ethanol, acetoin, carbon dioxide, pyruvic acid, and their ability to initiate the production of aromatic compounds from proteinaceous precursors
Treatment, aging time, and the interaction between them showed a significant effect on proteolytic changes expressed as primary amino groups (-NH2 ) and antiradical activity (ABTS) before and after each step of in vitro gastrointestinal digestion and simulated absorption of dry-cured loins
Summary
During the last several decades, the application of starter cultures has become a common practice in the production of more consistent and stable fermented meat products in order to improve their quality and safety, reduce variability, and enhance sensory characteristics. LAB play a significant role in meat fermentation by creating unfavorable conditions for pathogens and spoilage microorganisms via several mechanisms of action (e.g., competition for nutrients and living place on the product) or the production of substances inhibiting their growth especially lactic acid and/or acetic acid, acetoin, diacetyl, hydrogen peroxide, and bacteriocins. This contributes to product stability and safety [3,4]. Microorganisms other than LAB involved in meat fermentation mainly bring about and stabilize the desired sensory properties [5]
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