High pressure treatment of brine enhanced pork semitendinosus: Effect on microbial stability, drip loss, lipid and protein oxidation, and sensory properties

• HP increased the shelf life of brine enhanced pork up to 8 weeks at chill storage.
• Lipid and protein oxidation evolved differently.
• 600 MPa resulted in severe modification of sarcoplasmic and myofibrillar proteins.
• Sensory characteristics were not affected much by the treatment and during storage.

The microbiological stability, the meat and sensory quality of high pressure treated (600 MPa for 6 min) brine enhanced pork semitendinosus was evaluated during 8 weeks at 2 °C. Microbial growth was not observed, thus 600 MPa ensured a microbial shelf life of 8 weeks. Drip-loss was significantly reduced after HP treatment and remained low during storage indicating no further release of meat juice from the meat. Lipid oxidation, monitored as TBARS, remained lower than the sensorial unacceptable limit. Pressure did not affect the content of free thiol groups in the sarcoplasmic and myofibrillar protein fractions, whereas the storage resulted in a decrease in the sarcoplasmic fraction and an increase in the myofibrillar fraction. Western blotting revealed that some proteins were oxidized before HP treatment and the pressurization caused an increase in oxidation of certain proteins. SDS-PAGE profiles showed major changes of the protein structures due to the pressurization but not during storage. The sensory characteristics were not affected much by the pressure treatment or during storage.Industrial relevanceHigh pressure can produce meat products with long shelf-life without compromising the meat and sensory quality. Meat quality, monitored as drip loss, lipid and protein oxidation, and protein modification, did change due to the pressure treatment or during the subsequent storage, but had no effect in the sensory assessment.