INFLUENCE OF HEME PIGMENTS, NITRITE, AND NON-HEME IRON ON DEVELOPMENT OF WARMED-OVER FLAVOR (WOF) IN COOKED MEAT

Removal of meat pigments and addition of 156 mg/kg of nitrite significantly (P < 0.001) inhibited lipid oxidation in cooked meat, which suggested that heme pigments may catalyze autoxidation. Taste panel evaluation confirmed the beneficial effects of removal of heme pigments and addition of nitrite as a means of controlling the development of WOF. The percentage of bound heme iron in fresh meat pigment extract was slightly over 90% while the level of free non-heme iron was less than 10%. Cooking, however, released a significant amount of non-heme iron from bound heme pigments, which accelerated lipid oxidation in cooked meat. Thus, the increased rate of lipid oxidation in cooked meat is due to the release of non-heme iron during cooking, which catalyzes lipid oxidation. Addition of 2% ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid was shown to effectively chelate the non-heme iron and, thus, significantly reduced lipid oxidation. © 1979, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.