Quick and Simple Spectrophotometric Method of Identification of the Thermal State of Meat on the Basis of Composition and Content of Free Nucleotides

Abstract

At present, there is no method for identifying meat frozen in a thermal state acceptable for production control. The role of free nucleotides in the processes of refrigeration and storage of meat, affecting the structural and mechanical properties of muscle tissue, the formation of taste and its biological value is known. In this article we compared methods for identifying the thermal state of meat based on the determination of the composition and content of free nucleotides by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and spectrophotometry [SF]. High-purity reference substances were used: free nucleotides-ATP, ADP, AMP, IMP and nucleosides-inosine and hypoxanthine. It has been experimentally established that the characteristic peaks of the absorption spectra for extracts of free nucleotides of meat frozen depended from thermal state of meat. The content of ATP is 21.8 times higher in meat frozen in a fresh state, and the amount of IMF is 12.3 times lower than in meat frozen after cooling. The results of studies of meat frozen using the HPLC method and the developed SF method show the adequacy of the data obtained by both methods. SF-method based on the determination of the optical density of the extracts of free nucleotides is recommended to justify the choice of technological process meat defrost modes.