Dry aging is a traditional aging method in which primal or sub-primal sections of the carcass are stored in a controlled environment for several weeks without any type of packaging material. Dry aging is well known for enhancing meat palatability attributes. In particular, unique flavor development through dry aging such as beefy, nutty, brown-roasted or buttery is a major driver of dry-aging practice. In a recent study conducted in the Meat Science and Muscle Biology laboratory at Purdue University, dry aging resulted in improvement of meat palatability of low-marbled, grass-fed beef loins. This study suggested that dry aging can be an effective post-harvest value-adding strategy to provide consistent, desirable palatability characteristics of grass-fed beef with low marbling. While positive effects of dry aging on meat quality attributes have been reported in several scientific studies, specific chemical compounds associated with this unique dry-aging flavor have not been fully established.
Metabolomics is an emerging analytical technique that enables the detection and measurement of small molecular compounds, such as amino acids and sugars. Previous studies have shown that different muscle types have different metabolomics profiles, indicating the feasibility of identifying specific compounds related to meat quality. We hypothesized that chemical compounds associated with dry-aged flavor, or other palatability attributes, could be identified by using the metabolomics approach. Therefore, the objective of this study was to identify key compounds associated with eating quality attributes of dry-aged beef via metabolomics analysis. This study was a further investigation of our previous study, in which significant improvements in eating quality attributes were found in low-marbled, grass-fed beef loins through dry aging.