Role of flavour in palatability of meat (A review)

Abstract

The time being, decreasing tendency in worldwide meat consumption has focussed efforts on research seeking factors influencing palatability of meat including flavour. However, raw meat does not seem to have any characteristic flavour. Typical taste is being established and/or created mainly during processing, cooking and frying provided by aromatic and odorant agents formed. In spite of the fact that using wide range of sophisticated analytical techniques have been recently elaborated to analyse flavour of meat, inclusion of consumers and trained panel is inevitably needed for complex organoleptic evaluation. The easiest way to alter the taste of meat can be achieved by feeding rations influencing fatty acid content and composition of adipose tissues and intramuscular fat, the derivatives of which determine ultimate flavour and/or aroma. Prevailing opinions generally agree that the intense meat flavour can developed by feeding of concentrates based rations in comparison to roughage or green fodder of low energy content. On the other hand, feeding roughage based diets the level of unsaturated fatty acids increases improving requirement towards healthy meat. Further factors may influence meat flavour are genotype (species and breed), processing and cooking practice. Summing up the conclusions, one way to master consumers’ averseness can be altered by improvement of palatability where emphasis has to be laid on production of healthy meat resulting in increased consumption.