A comprehensive review of plant-derived salt substitutes: Classification, mechanism, and application.

The diseases caused by excessive sodium intake derived from NaCl consumption have attracted widespread attention worldwide, and many researchers are committed to finding suitable ways to reduce sodium intake during the dietary process. Salt substitute is considered an effective way to reduce sodium intake by replacing all/part of NaCl in food without reducing the saltiness while minimizing the impact on the taste and acceptability of the food. Plant-derived natural ingredients are generally considered safe and reliable, and extensive research has shown that certain plant extracts or specific components are effective salt substitutes, which can also give food additional health benefits. However, these plant-derived salt substitutes (PSS) have not been systematically recognized by the public and have not been well adopted in the food industry. Therefore, a comprehensive review of PSS, including its material basis, flavor characteristics, and taste mechanism is helpful for a deeper understanding of PSS, accelerating its research and development, and promoting its application.

Effect of yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) fermentation on conformational changes in pig liver proteins and their ability to bind to characteristic aldehydes.

This study aimed to explore the potential of a fermentation technology to reduce off-flavour perception and its underlying mechanisms. Results revealed that yeast fermentation (YF) significantly ameliorated the off-flavour of pig liver (p < 0.05). Specifically, YF pre-treatment decreased the relative abundance of α-helix and fluorescence intensity while increasing the surface hydrophobicity and SS level and loosening the microstructure of myofibrillar proteins (MPs) in pig liver. Additionally, the appropriate fermentation treatments enhanced the MP-aldehyde binding capacity by 0.25-1.30 times, demonstrating that YF-induced conformational modifications in pig liver proteins made them more prone to interacting with characteristic aldehydes. Moreover, molecular docking results confirmed that hydrophobic interactions are the primary drivers of MP-aldehyde binding. These findings suggest that YF technology holds immense promise for modulating off-flavour perception in liver products by altering protein conformation.

Recent advances in photoluminescent fluorescent probe technology for food flavor compounds analysis.

The real-time, precise qualitative and quantitative sensing of food flavor compounds is crucial for ensuring food safety, quality, and consumer acceptance. As indicators for food flavor labeling, it is vital to delve deep into the specific ingredient and content of food flavor compounds to assess the food flavor quality, but still facing huge challenges. Photoluminescent fluorescent probe technology, with fast detection and high sensitivity, has shown immense potentials in detecting food flavor compounds. In this review, the classification and optical sensing mechanism of photoluminescent fluorescent probe technology are described in detail. Besides, challenges in applying photoluminescent fluorescent probe technology to analyze food flavor compounds are outlined to indicate future research directions. We hope this review can provide an insight for the applications of photoluminescent fluorescent probe technology in the evaluation of food flavor quality in future.

A new comprehensive quantitative index for the assessment of essential amino acid quality in beef using Vis-NIR hyperspectral imaging combined with LSTM.

The quality of beef is usually predicted by measuring a single index rather than a comprehensive index. To precisely determine the essential amino acid (EAA) contents in 360 beef samples, the feasibility of optimized spectral detection techniques based on the comprehensive EAA index (CEI) and comprehensive weight index (CWI) constructed by factor analysis was explored. Two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2D-COS) was used to analyse the mechanisms of spectral peak shifts in complex disturbance systems with CEI and CWI contents, and 15 sensitive feature variables were extracted to establish a quantitative analysis model of a long short-term memory network (LSTM). The results indicated that 2D-COS had good predictive performance in both CEI-LSTM (R2P of 0.9095 and RPD of 2.76) and CWI-LSTM (R2P of 0.8449 and RPD of 2.45), which reduced data information by 88%. This indicates that utilizing 2D-COS can eliminate collinearity and redundant information among variables while achieving data dimensionality reduction and simplification of calibration models. Furthermore, a spatial distribution map of the comprehensive EAA content was generated by combining the optimal prediction model. This study demonstrated that the comprehensive index method furnishes a new approach to rapidly evaluate EAA content.

The impact of freezing methods on the quality, moisture distribution, microstructure, and flavor profile of hand-grabbed mutton during long-term frozen storage.

The aim of present study was to investigate the influence of conventional freezing (CF, -18 °C), low-temperaturefreezing (LF, -40 °C), and ultra-low-temperature freezing (ULF, -80 °C) on the quality, moisture distribution, microstructure, and flavor profile of hand-grabbed mutton (HGM) during frozen storage (0, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150 and 180 days). The TPC, TVB-N, and TBARS values increased significantly with prolonged storage, while the moisture content decreased (P < 0.05). Additionally, the concentrations of aldehydes, alcohols, ketones, acids, and alkenes decreased significantly as the storage duration increased. However, the concentrations of esters and heterocyclics increased (P < 0.05). Notably, at 30-180 days of storage, the TBARS and TVB-N values in ULF samples were significantly lower than those in CF and LF samples, while the moisture content was significantly higher (P < 0.05). Low field-nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR) analysis showed that ULF decreased water migration and maintained the original texture characteristics of HGM during frozen storage. The ULF and LF groups had significantly higher levels of volatiles than the CF group (P < 0.05). The findings show that ULF, with its relatively rapid freezing rates, can still maintain the high quality of HGM after 180 days of frozen storage, contributing to quality control.

A Combination of Near-Infrared Hyperspectral Imaging with Two-Dimensional Correlation Analysis for Monitoring the Content of Alanine in Beef.

Alanine (Ala), as the most important free amino acid, plays a significant role in food taste characteristics and human health regulation. The feasibility of using near-infrared hyperspectral imaging (NIR-HSI) combined with two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2D-COS) analysis to predict beef Ala content quickly and nondestructively is first proposed in this study. With Ala content as the external disturbance condition, the sequence of chemical bond changes caused by synchronous and asynchronous correlation spectrum changes in 2D-COS was analyzed, and local sensitive variables closely related to Ala content were obtained. On this basis, the simplified linear, nonlinear, and artificial neural network models developed by the weighted coefficient based on the feature wavelength extraction method were compared. The results show that with the change in Ala content in beef, the double-frequency absorption of the C-H bond of CH2 in the chemical bond sequence occurred prior to the third vibration of the C=O bond and the first stretching of O-H in COOH. Furthermore, the wavelength within the 1136-1478 nm spectrum range was obtained as the local study area of Ala content. The linear partial least squares regression (PLSR) model based on effective wavelengths was selected by competitive adaptive reweighted sampling (CARS) from 2D-COS analysis, and provided excellent results (R2C of 0.8141, R2P of 0.8458, and RPDp of 2.54). Finally, the visual distribution of Ala content in beef was produced by the optimal simplified combination model. The results show that 2D-COS combined with NIR-HSI could be used as an effective method to monitor Ala content in beef.

Formation of volatile flavor compounds, maillard reaction products and potentially hazard substance in China stir-frying beef sao zi.

The effects of stir-frying stages on the formation of flavor volatile compounds, Maillard reaction products (MRPs) and potentially hazardous substances with time in stir-fried beef sao zi were investigated. A total of 122 volatile compounds were identified in beef sao zi after stir-frying. Most of the volatile compounds were produced in the stir-frying fat (SFF) process of beef sao zi. Furosine, fluorescence intensity, Nε-(1-Carboxymethyl)-L-lysine (CML), Nε-(1-Carboxyethyl)-L-lysine (CEL) polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), heterocyclic aromatic amines (HAAs) and acrylamides (AA) are mainly presented in stir-fried beef sao zi. The furosine peaked at MSF 120 s as the Maillard reaction progressed. The fluorescent compound gradually increased with time during the stir-frying process. The CML and CEL peaked at MSF 120 s. AA reached its maximum in MSF 90 s and then decreased. The quantities and content of HAAs and PAHs were increased by prolonging the stir-frying time, but ended up far lower than the maximum permissible value specified by the Commission of the European Communities. The extended stir-frying promoted MRPs and some hazardous substances, but the content of potentially hazardous substances was still within the safety range for stir-frying beef sao zi.

High freezing rate improves flavor fidelity effect of hand grab mutton after short-term frozen storage.

Taking the eutectic point as the final freezing temperature, the differences of flavor substances of in hand grab mutton (HGM) frozen at three rates of 0. 26 cm/h (-18°C), 0.56 cm/h (-40°C) and 2.00 cm/h (-80°C) were determined and analyzed. The results showed that the flavor of HGM decreased significantly after freezing. With the increase of freezing rate, the contents of aldehydes, alcohols, ketones, acids, esters, others, free amino acids and 5'-nucleotides were higher, and the content of specific substances was also generally increased. All samples from unfrozen and frozen HGM could be divided into four groups using an electronic nose based on different flavor characteristics. Seven common key aroma components were determined by relative odor activity value (ROAV), including hexanal, heptanal, octanal, nonanal, (E)-oct-2-enal, (2E,4E)-deca-2,4-dienal and oct-1-en-3-ol. The higher the freezing rate, the greater the ROAVs. Taste activity values calculated by all taste substances were far <1, and the direct contribution of the substances to the taste of HGM was not significant. The equivalent umami concentration of HGM frozen at -80°C was the highest. These findings indicated that higher freezing rate was more conducive to the retention of flavor substances in HGM, and the flavor fidelity effect of freezing at -80°C was particularly remarkable.