Understanding complex interactions between flavour precursors in meat-pulse products using a flavouromics platform

随着消费者将他们的饮食模式转向更可持续的替代品，肉类类似物和扩展物越来越受欢迎。在肉制品中添加脉冲面粉是为了降低总脂肪，提高营养成分，但这样做的一个主要挑战是，它更容易被氧化，从而产生由特定挥发性有机化合物（VOCs）引起的异味。微粉化等热处理可以通过降低某些酶（如脂氧合酶（LOX））的活性来抑制这种氧化过程。我们之前已经证明了添加到牛肉汉堡中的微细脉冲面粉如何显著减少与厚重香气相关的挥发性有机化合物，从而提高消费者的接受度。我们推测，在肉类中添加脉冲面粉会产生新的基质，影响关键风味前体的结构、稳定性和可用性，从而影响烹饪过程中挥发性有机化合物的产生和浓度。微粉化还会影响脉冲面粉中发现的其他热敏酶的活性，这反过来又会改变脉冲肉产品最终产生的挥发性有机化合物的组成和浓度。本研究的长期目标是收集与肉类和选定的脉冲面粉相结合的食品的风味前体、挥发性有机化合物、LOX活性和感官特性相关的信息，以便建立一个数据库。该数据库将用于了解风味的形成，并预测新型食品的感官结果，以灭活导致不良挥发性有机化合物形成的酶。这项工作在寻求阐明挥发性有机化合物的分子结构，以及了解各种酶和天然存在的PUFAs所起的作用方面具有高度的创新性。研究结果将对加拿大的食品工业很有价值，可以进一步增加豆类的价值，也可以为消费者在市场上提供更广泛的功能性食品选择。该项目为期5年，将为一名博士、两名硕士和五名暑期本科生提供培训机会，为他们提供在最先进的风味组学实验室的独特体验，使他们能够培养一套重要的技能，这将有利于加拿大的农业产业部门。

Meat analogues and extenders are increasingly popular as consumers shift their eating patterns to more sustainable alternatives. Pulse flours are added to meat products to lower total fat, and enhance nutritional content, however a major challenge in doing so is an increased susceptibility to oxidation leading to off-flavours caused by specific volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Heat treatments like micronization can be used to inhibit this oxidative process by decreasing the activity of certain enzymes, such as lipoxygenase (LOX). We have previously demonstrated how micronized pulse flours added to beef burgers could significantly decrease VOCs associated with beany aroma and in turn, increase consumer acceptability. We hypothesize that the addition of pulse flour to meat will create a new matrix, affecting the structure, stability and availability of key flavour precursors, which will impact the generation and concentration of VOCs during cooking. Micronization will also impact the activity of other heat-sensitive enzymes found in pulse flours, which, in turn, will modify the composition and concentration of the final VOCs generated from meat-pulse products. The long-term objective of this research is to gather information related to flavour precursors, VOCs, LOX activity and sensory characteristics of food products combining meat and selected pulse flours with and without micronization in order to generate a database. This database will be used to understand the flavour formation and to predict sensory outcomes of novel food products for the purposes of inactivating enzymes that lead to the formation of undesirable VOCs. The proposed work is highly novel in seeking to elucidate the molecular structure of VOCs, and to understand the role played by various enzymes and naturally occurring PUFAs. Findings will be valuable to Canada's food industry to add further value to pulses, and also to consumers by providing a wider selection of functional foods in the marketplace. The work undertaken in this 5 year cycle will support training opportunities for one Ph.D. and two M.Sc. and five summer undergraduate students, providing a unique experience in a state-of-the-art flavouromics laboratory allowing them to develop an important skill set that will benefit Canada's agricultural industry sector.