Effects of high pressure treatment on the flavour-related components in meat.

This paper describes the effects of high-pressure treatment on the water-soluble components of meat responsible for the flavor of meat. The amounts of peptides and amino acids as estimated by phenol reagent positive materials (PPM) apparently increased with increasing pressure applied to the muscle up to 300 MPa, but the differences between each treatment were not statistically significant. When the muscles were stored at 2°C for 7 days after the pressurization, increases in the amount of PPM were observed both in untreated and pressurized muscles. Apparently the contents of serine, glutamic acid, glutamine, glycine and alanine gradually increased in the extracts from pressurized muscle as the pressure increased up to 200 MPa, and some of them, especially glutamine and alanine, tended to decrease in the muscle pressurized at 300 MPa. When the muscles were stored for 7 days after the pressurization, apparent increases of the contents of aspartic acid, serine, proline, alanine and lysine were observed in the extracts both from untreated and pressurized muscles. However, significant differences were not observed in the contents of each amino acid between each treatment. The content of inosinic acid, which is considered to contribute to the 'umani' taste of the meat, was not reduced by the pressurization. High performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC) of soluble peptides revealed no significant changes in any fraction from the pressurized muscles up to 200 MPa and a significant decrease of the peptide fraction (approx. molecular weight 500) from the muscle pressurized at 300 and 400 MPa. When the muscles were stored after pressurization, significant increases in the peptide fraction of molecular weight 300 and the amino acid fraction, and a decrease of the peptide fraction of molecular weight 3000 were observed in the extracts both from the untreated and pressurized muscles. From the results, it is suggested that high-pressure treatment on the post mortem muscle causes almost the same changes in the components responsible for the flavor of meat as those observed in conditioned muscle.