EFFECT OF BEEF PACKAGING METHOD ON VOLATILE COMPOUNDS DEVELOPED BY OVEN ROASTING OR MICROWAVE COOKING

The objectives of this study were to identify and quantify volatile co mpounds in beef that was dry aged or vacuum packaged and then oven roa sted or microwave cooked. Supercritical CO2 was used to extract the vo latile compounds, and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometr y or flame ionization detection was used for analyses. Classes of comp ounds isolated and identified included hydrocarbons (alkanes, alkenes, aromatic), alcohols, aldehydes, acids, ketones, esters, lactones, thi azoles, pyrazines, phenols, and furans. Differences in relative propor tions of certain hydrocarbons, terpenoids, aldehydes, and ketones were observed for individual combinations of cooking x packaging interacti ons, some of which were directly attributed to autoxidation. Results i ndicate that quantifying single compounds was not sufficiently accurat e. Instead, using total weight percentages of chemical classes was pre ferable.