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ARS Home » Plains Area » Clay Center, Nebraska » U.S. Meat Animal Research Center » Meat Safety and Quality » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #423076
Research Project: Approaches for Improving and Measuring Red Meat Quality and Composition

Location: Meat Safety and Quality

Title: Elucidation of wet aged beef flavor and tenderness phenotypes via untargeted metabolomics

Author
item HERNANDEZ, SEBASTIAN - Texas Tech University
item Wheeler, Tommy
item WOERNER, DALE - Texas Tech University
item LEGAKO, JERRAD - Texas Tech University

Submitted to: Meat Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/10/2025
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: We know that aging time and temperature impact beef tenderness and flavor but the specific biochemical mechanisms are not well understood. We know that enzymatic degradation during aging impacts these quality traits but we are just starting to understand which small molecules are released during this enzymatic action and how they impact tenderness and flavor. This study determined the small molecules released during different aging time and temperature combinations and which ones were associated with changes in tenderness and flavor. Increased tenderness was associated with increased amino acids and peptides and decreased carbohydrates. Increased off-flavors were associated with an increase in certain amines and amino acids and organic acids. These results could provide strategies to optimize and predict meat quality traits leading to increased consumer eating satisfaction with beef products.

Technical Abstract: The objective of this study was to characterize metabolomic changes in beef M. longissimus lumborum (LL) and exudate (EX) as well as evaluate metabolomic shifts based on beef flavor and tenderness phenotype. Beef strip loins were subjected to aging temperature (-2, 0, or 4 ºC) and duration (14, 28, 42, and 56 d) regimens. Metabolites were extracted from snap frozen, homogenized LL samples and EX samples using 80% methanol. Derivatization of metabolites was conducted via methoximation and silylation and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Slice shear force, proteolytic activity (desmin and troponin-t), free amino acids, and descriptive sensory analysis were also conducted. Agglomerative hierarchical cluster analysis was used to produce tenderness and flavor phenotype groups. The LL metabolome was readily influenced by aging duration, eliciting changes in amino acids, peptides, carbohydrates, biogenic amines, and nucleotides/nucleosides (FDR P < 0.05). An aging temperature × aging duration interaction was observed for nicotinic acid, psicose+tagatose, and tryptamine in EX (FDR P < 0.05). Agglomerative hierarchical cluster analysis resulted in 3 and 4 phenotypic clusters for beef tenderness and flavor, respectively. Tenderness III was characterized by increased SSF and decreased proteolytic activity which coincided with an abundance of carbohydrates (FDR P < 0.05). Flavor IV possessed increased off-flavor intensity which corresponded to an increase of biogenic amines, taste-active amino acids, and organic acids (FDR P < 0.05). Overall, this study characterizes changes in the beef metabolome during aging. highlights the molecular phenotype of tenderness and flavor, and the potential of exudate to monitor beef quality.