Effect of extraction methods on the types and levels of free amino acid of beef longissimus muscle

The current study was carried out to investigate the impact of extraction conditions on the free amino acid level and type in beef longissimus muscle. The sample blocks were chiller aged for 1 d and 7 d at 4°C. There are three homogenization speeds (11,000, 19,000 and 24,000 rpm) for bigger and two speeds (11,000 and 13,000 rpm) for smaller homogenizer's dispersing tools were used for evaluation. Results showed that chiller ageing greatly (p<0.05) increased extractable free amino acids, except cystine. Homogenization with the bigger dispersing tool at 24,000 rpm resulted in the highest free amino acid levels for both 1 and 7 d samples. Significant differences (p<0.05) in the mean values of most amino acids due to the effect of speed and interactions between ageing times. However, the speed effect and interaction between ageing with homogenization speed were not significant (p>0.05) for most of the amino acids except valine and isoleucine when using the smaller dispensing tools. The current data indicated that a standardized method for free amino acid types and levels of aged beef samples. In addition, the results also suggested that utilization of a big dispensing tool at high homogenization speed is a better condition for releasing free amino acid contents in beef samples.