The association between total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N) concentration and other biomarkers of quality and spoilage for vacuum packaged beef

Benjamin W B Holman; Alaa El-Din A Bekhit; Michael Waller; Kristy L Bailes; Matthew J Kerr; David L Hopkins

doi:10.1016/j.meatsci.2021.108551

The association between total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N) concentration and other biomarkers of quality and spoilage for vacuum packaged beef

Meat Sci. 2021 Sep:179:108551. doi: 10.1016/j.meatsci.2021.108551. Epub 2021 May 8.

Authors

Benjamin W B Holman¹, Alaa El-Din A Bekhit², Michael Waller³, Kristy L Bailes⁴, Matthew J Kerr⁵, David L Hopkins⁵

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Red Meat and Sheep Development, NSW Department of Primary Industries, Cowra, NSW 2794, Australia. Electronic address: benjamin.holman@dpi.nsw.gov.au.
² Department of Food Science, University of Otago, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand.
³ University of Queensland, School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Brisbane, QLD 4001, Australia.
⁴ Wagga Wagga Agricultural Institute, NSW Department of Primary Industries, Wagga, NSW 2650, Australia.
⁵ Centre for Red Meat and Sheep Development, NSW Department of Primary Industries, Cowra, NSW 2794, Australia.

PMID: 34000612
DOI: 10.1016/j.meatsci.2021.108551

Abstract

Beef longissimus lumborum muscles (24) were each portioned into 6 steaks, and these were held at ~0.5 °C for up to 14 weeks. Total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N) data was compared against other measures of quality and freshness: total viable microbial count (TVC), ultimate pH, drip loss, purge, moisture content, cook loss, shear force, particle size, vitamin E, intramuscular fat content (IMF) and colour parameters. There was an association between TVB-N and colour parameters; and between TVB-N and several parameters for microbial load, tenderness and moisture. IMF and vitamin E were not correlated to TVB-N. TVB-N of 5.1 mg/100 g (95% confidence intervals: 4.6-5.5 mg/100 g) was estimated as equivalent to a TVC of log 7 cfu/g. When beef samples were categorised as either spoilt or fresh using this TVC recommendation, TVB-N was correct in 77.9% of its assignments. Additional investigation is necessary to confirm this result against a larger sample population with a broader range of TVB-N values.

Keywords: Beef; Eating quality; Microbial loads; Retail-potential; Spoilage; Total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N); Vitamin E.

MeSH terms

Animals
Bacterial Load
Cattle
Color
Cooking
Food Packaging / methods*
Food Quality
Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
Muscle, Skeletal
Nitrogen / analysis*
Red Meat / analysis*
Red Meat / microbiology
Vacuum

Substances

Nitrogen