The effect of aging on beef taste, aroma and texture, and the role of microorganisms: a review

The present review summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of three different aging methods (traditional dry aging, wet aging in vacuum shrink pack and dry aging in a highly moisture-permeable bag), discusses the effects of aging on beef which focus on the formation of taste-active compounds and aroma-active compounds and texture changes, and speculates the role of microbes. All these three aging methods can improve the aroma, flavor and texture of beef to varying degrees. It is concluded that the improvement in the taste during aging may be attributed to the following three aspects: First, the release of reducing sugars from the transition of glycogen and ATP; Second, the formation of free amino acids (FAAs) and peptides through proteolysis; Third, IMP, GMP, inosine and hypoxanthine which are produced by the degradation of nucleotides. The improvement of aroma is related to the volatile aroma-active components, which are produced by the thermal oxidation/degradation of fatty acids and the Maillard reaction between amino acids and reducing sugars during aging. And the change of texture is mainly owing to the degradation of cytoskeletal myofibrin and collagen with intramural connective tissue in meat by the endogenous proteolysis system. The role of microorganism in aging will be the main direction of further research.