Abstract
This study was performed to assess the changes in meat quality and metabolome profiles of meat exudate during postmortem aging. At 24 h postmortem, longissimus lumborum muscles were collected from 10 pork carcasses, cut into three sections, and randomly assigned to three aging period groups (2, 9, and 16 d). Meat quality and chemical analyses, along with the metabolomics of meat exudates using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with a quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometer (UHPLC-QTOF-MS) platform, were conducted. Results indicated a declined (p < 0.05) display color stability, and increased (p < 0.05) purge loss, meat tenderness, and lipid oxidation as aging extended. The principal component analysis and hierarchical clustering analysis exhibited distinct clusters of the exudate metabolome of each aging treatment. A total of 39 significantly changed features were tentatively identified via matching them to METLIN database according to their MS/MS information. Some of those features are associated with adenosine triphosphate metabolism (creatine and hypoxanthine), antioxidation (oxidized glutathione and carnosine), and proteolysis (dipeptides and tripeptides). The findings provide valuable information that reflects the meat quality’s attributes and could be used as a source of potential biomarkers for predicting aging times and meat quality changes.
Highlights
Postmortem aging is a value-adding process and has been extensively practiced by the global meat industry for years to enhance meat tenderness, juiciness, and flavor development [1]
The metabolomes in beef [7] and pork [12] exudates during different aging periods were first characterized by 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, and the results indicated a strong correlation between exudate and meat spectra
The results indicated that both the oxidative stability of meat and well as the metabolomics profile of meat exudate were significantly affected by muscle type and aging period
Summary
Postmortem aging is a value-adding process and has been extensively practiced by the global meat industry for years to enhance meat tenderness, juiciness, and flavor development [1]. Wet-aging (storing fresh meat at refrigerated temperatures under vacuum packaged bags) is a widely used strategy in the meat industry due to its enhanced ease and flexibility of storage [2]. Physical pressure applied during vacuum packing causes the extraction of liquid from the meat, resulting in a greater release of exudation and purge collection in the bag [6]. The purge contains numerous metabolites, which could provide useful background biochemical information and could potentially be closely associated with meat quality changes. Purge is mostly considered to be waste, and the potential of meat purge use for meat quality determination has not been actively realized. A few studies have explored the potential value of meat purge as an analytical medium
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