TASTE OF DELICIOUS BEEFY MEATY PEPTIDE - REVISED

An octapeptide, previously isolated and named by others as beefy meaty peptide and described as a beef flavor enhancer having a delicious taste, was synthesized. Using Fmoc-amino acids and HBTU reagent, the peptide was synthesized and recovered in high yield. The peptide was characterized by biochemical methods and evaluated for its alleged umami taste properties similar to the taste of monosodium glutamate (MSG). The peptide was shown to be homogeneous by high-performance chromatography, amino acid composition analysis, and amino acid sequence analysis. Electrospray mass spectrometry confirmed the sequence analysis. Stability of the peptide in solution was also evaluated. Taste evaluation by a trained flavor panel showed that the synthesized octapeptide and some peptide fragments did not have any umami or other taste. Suggestions are given to explain the observed difference between our results and those reported by others.