Research Progress on Premade Meat and Poultry Dishes Off-flavors and Their Inhibiting and Masking Technology

Premade meat and poultry dishes refer to the finished or semi-finished products that use meat and poultry materials as the main ingredients, which undergo pretreatments and stored, transported and sold under room temperature or cold chain conditions. Flavor is an important factor that determines consumers' willing for premade dish purchase. However, due to raw material characteristics, microbial metabolism, nutrients oxidation or degradation, inappropriate reheating, the premade meat and poultry dishes might generate some unpleasant off-flavors. The off-flavors might have strong negative impact on the sensory quality of premade dishes, which restricts the further development of the whole industry. The commonly seen off-flavor substances in premade meat and poultry dishes include hexanal with sour note, nonanal, octanal, decanal and (E,E)-2,4-decadienal with waxy and oily note, (E)-2-decenal with greasy fatty note, 3-methylbutyraldehyde and 2-methylbutyraldehyde with musty note, butyric acid with a strong cheesy note, 3-methylbutyric acid with sweaty note, dimethyl trisulfide, dimethyl sulphide with sulphurous note, and 1-octen-3-ol with earthy note etc. This paper reviews the main sources of premade meat and poultry dishes off-flavors, summarizes the off-flavors inhibiting and masking techniques applied in premade dish preparation. This study would provide practical guidance and reference for the innovation and development of the flavor quality control in premade dish industry.