Heterocyclic amines (HAs) and advanced glycation end products (AGEs) are important harmful products formed simultaneously during the thermal processing of food. In order to develop a green, efficient method that can be used to control the production of two harmful products simultaneously in food processing. In the present study, deep eutectic solvents (DESs) were used to extract ginger, and this method produced significantly higher levels of total phenolic and flavonoid content as well as an antioxidant activity than ginger extracted using conventional solvents. Herein, we further investigated the inhibitory effects of DES extracts from ginger on the generation of HAs and AGEs in roast beef patties. All the nine DES extracts reduced the formation of HAs and AGEs, and the application of choline chloride-lactic-acid-based DES extract caused a signification reduction of 44.33%, 29.38%, 50.95%, 78.61%, 21.94%, and 17.52% of the PhIP, MeIQx, MeIQ, 4,8-DiMeIQx, Harmane, and Norhamane content, and those for Nε-(carboxymethyl)lysine (CML) and Nε-(carboxyethyl)lysine (CEL) were 49.08% and 58.50%, respectively. Furthermore, the proximate and texture profile changes of beef patties as well as the precursors (creatine, creatinine, and glucose) of HAs and AGEs were evaluated to determine the mechanism of ginger DES extracts on the formation of HAs and AGEs and the physical/chemical changes of ginger DES extracts on beef patties. This study develops a new method for reducing the amount of HAs and AGEs in meat, which will help food manufacturers produce healthier meat products.
Keywords: advanced glycation end products; beef patties; deep eutectic solvents; ginger; heterocyclic amines.