Ribose-induced Maillard Reaction as an Analytical Method for Detection of Adulteration and Differentiation of Chilled and Frozen-thawed Minced Veal

Quality control of meat products is one of the main concerns of consumers, governmental control authorities, and retailers. The purpose of this study was to employ ribose-induced Maillard reaction in detection of meat adulteration and differentiation of fresh-chilled from frozen-thawed minced veal. The browning intensity was assessed through measuring the absorbance at 420 nm with a spectrophotometer as well as the direct analysis of the color and pH. The results showed that CIE b*, CIE a*, and A(420*) values in the extract of fresh-chilled veal were significantly (p<0.05) higher than frozen-thawed samples. The extract of frozen meat samples stored at −18°C became significantly darker and more yellowish compared to −4°C. The results showed that the A(420*) value in the frozen-thawed veal stored at −4°C and −18°C was reduced by approximately 17.22±3.53% and 11.68±2.49%, respectively, compared with fresh-chilled veal. The findings also showed that the storage temperature of minced veal and the heating time in this reaction had a significant effect on all tested variables (p<0.0001). The proposed method can be considered as an easy, quick, and inexpensive test for differentiating between the fresh-chilled and frozen-thawed minced veal.