Formation and Analysis of Volatile and Odor Compounds in Meat-A Review

Abstract

The volatile composition and odor of meat and meat products is based on the precursors present in the raw meat. These are influenced by various pre-slaughter factors (species, breed, sex, age, feed, muscle type). Furthermore, post-mortem conditions (chiller aging, cooking conditions, curing, fermentation, etc.) determine the development of meat volatile organic compounds (VOCs). In this review, the main reactions leading to the development of meat VOCs such as the Maillard reaction; Strecker degradation; lipid oxidation; and thiamine, carbohydrate, and nucleotide degradation are described. The important pre-slaughter factors and post-mortem conditions influencing meat VOCs are discussed. Finally, the pros, cons, and future perspectives of the most commonly used sample preparation techniques (solid-phase microextraction, stir bar sorptive extraction, dynamic headspace extraction) and analytical methods (gas chromatography mass spectrometry and olfactometry, as well as electronic noses) for the analysis of meat VOCs are discussed, and the continued importance of sensorial analysis is pinpointed.

Keywords: GC-MS; GC-O; SBSE; SPME; aroma; dynamic headspace; electronic nose; meat; odor; sensorial analysis.

Figure 1

Overview over the routes of formation and common volatile compounds formed by the Maillard reaction and Strecker degradation, lipid oxidation, and their interaction. Reprinted from Diez-Simon et al. (2019) [14] with permission from Springer Nature under the terms of the CC BY license.

Figure 2

Thiamine degradation to the formation of 2-methyl-3-furanthiol via 5-hydroxy-3-mercapto-2-pentanone. Reprinted from Resconi et al. (2013) [15] with permission from MDPI under the terms of the CC BY license.