Metabolic fingerprinting of in-bag dry- and wet-aged lamb with rapid evaporative ionisation mass spectroscopy

Food Chem. 2021 Jun 15:347:128999. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2020.128999. Epub 2021 Jan 7.

Abstract

The effect of in-bag dry- and wet-ageing on metabolite profiles of lamb legs was determined using Rapid Evaporative Ionisation Mass Spectrometry (REIMS). Using orthogonal projection to latent structures-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) with REIMS, 1705 metabolite ions were identified (Q2 = 0.86) in four muscles: m. semimembranosus, m. biceps femoris, m. vastus lateralis and m. rectus femoris. A total of 663 metabolites differed between ageing methods (P < 0.05) which mainly resulted from proteolysis and lipid metabolism. Dry-aged lamb had higher pH (P = 0.016) and lower moisture content (P = 0.034) than the wet-aged. Dry-ageing produced more (P < 0.05) smaller sized metabolites including dipeptides and free amino acids and lipid oxidation metabolites compared to wet-aged equivalents. Different muscles had distinct REIMS metabolic profiles. Outcomes of this study demonstrated that REIMS can be used for authentication between in-bag dry- and wet-aged lamb based on their metabolic fingerprints.

Keywords: Dipeptides; In-bag dry-aged lamb; Meat ageing; Metabolic fingerprinting; REIMS.

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acids / analysis
  • Animals
  • Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid
  • Desiccation / methods*
  • Discriminant Analysis
  • Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel
  • Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
  • Least-Squares Analysis
  • Lipid Metabolism
  • Mass Spectrometry / methods*
  • Metabolome*
  • Muscle Proteins / analysis
  • Muscle, Skeletal / metabolism*
  • Proteolysis
  • Red Meat / analysis
  • Sheep
  • Time Factors

Substances

  • Amino Acids
  • Muscle Proteins