MEAT FLAVOR . METHOD FOR RAPID PREPARATION OF WATER-SOLUBLE LOW MOLECULAR WEIGHT FRACTION OF MEAT TISSUE EXTRACTS

Polystyrene resin Amberlite XAD-2 can be used to isolate the water-soluble low molecular weight fraction of meat. Aqueous extract of meat was deproteinized with picric acid and the excess picric acid was removed by adsorption on a column of the resin. The low molecular weight components of meat, which include the precursors of meat aroma, were eluted from the resin column with water. The fraction of meat thus obtained gave on pyrolysis a meat-like odor similar to that obtained from meat extract deproteinized by dialysis. The procedure described is simple, inexpensive, requires a much shorter time for deproteinization of tissue extracts than does dialysis, and yields a sample suitable for organoleptic evaluation and pyrolysis studies. Simultaneously with the removal of picric acid by chromatography on Amberlite XAD-2, fractionation of extract components may be achieved, particularly purine derivatives and some amino acids. © 1969, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.