Influence of specific taste-active components on meat flavor as affected by intrinsic and extrinsic factors: an overview

Beef flavor is considered as the most important factor of eating quality and overall acceptability of consumers. Previous studies on beef flavor have demonstrated the role of numerous volatile compounds in meat aroma. However, the contribution of water-soluble compounds such as peptides, amino acids, reducing sugars, nucleotides, acids, and vitamins to the cooked beef taste is not fully known. The present review has mainly focused on the factors associated with flavor of beef and contribution of aforementioned constituents to the flavor. A number of studies have documented that intrinsic and extrinsic factors such as diet/feeding regimes, breed and sex of animal, aging condition, and pH of meat significantly influence the meat flavor. These aforementioned factors differently affect the concentration and level of taste-active compounds and taste contents. Also, it has been established that the amount and proportion of these compounds were affected by the genetic differences among individual meat cuts and the outcome of glycolysis, proteolysis, and lipolysis processes. Conclusively, this review provides insight into the previous significant literature reports on flavor and identifies important factors that are associated with flavor precursors of proteolysis and glycolysis with the viewpoint of palatability of beef meat.