JPH05276899A - Meat quality-improving agent, and method for improving quality and taste of meat with the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable to simultaneously achieve the improvement in the physical properties and taste of meat by treating the bird or animal meat at a low grade part with a combination of enzymes effective for the improvement in the qualities and taste. CONSTITUTION:The bird or animal meat at a low grade part is treated with a combination of an elastase capable of specifically decomposing hard protein such as elastin or collagen, the main components of connective tissues (sinew), for softening the meat with a protease or peptidase capable of producing free amino acids and peptides contributing the taste of the meat or an amylase or collagenase acting on collagen fibers to facilitate the attack of the protease. The qualities of hard and sinewy meats at the low grade parts of bird or animal meats such as beeves, porks or chickens are improved before cooked, and the softness and good tastes are thereby added to the meats to enhance their values.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a meat flavor improving agent and a method for improving the meat flavor of bird and meat using the same. More specifically, the present invention, in meat such as beef, pork, and chicken, improves the meat quality of low-quality parts that are hard and have many streaks before cooking, tenderness,
The present invention also relates to a meat flavor improver used for imparting taste and enhancing added value, and a method for improving meat flavor of poultry meat using the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In meat such as beef, pork and chicken, there are many connective tissues (streaks) such as thighs and shins and there are a large number of hard and hard-to-eat portions. The hardness of meat is related to the structure of myofibrillar proteins in muscle cells and the extracellular structure of hard proteins such as elastin and collagen. The former structure is changed by aging, but the extracellular structure is not affected by the endogenous endopeptidase, and is hardly changed by aging. Therefore, conventionally, in addition to mechanical destruction, plant-derived proteolytic enzymes (proteases) such as papain, bromelain, and ficin were externally added to soften the meat (Prusa,
K. J. et al. , J. Food Sci. , 4
6 , 1684-1686 (1981)).

However, since these enzymes are ordinary proteases and have low substrate specificity, not only streaks but also myofibrillar proteins involved in the texture of meat are excessively decomposed, so that they are soft. The flesh becomes brittle,
There is a drawback that a sticky feeling occurs and the texture is impaired. Therefore, at present, there is a long-awaited demand for elastase that specifically decomposes streaks.

[0004] Generally, meat is softened by aging and the flavor is improved. It has been conventionally considered that free amino acids, nucleic acid-related substances, peptides and the like produced by the action of proteases and peptidases in muscle contribute to the improvement of flavor, particularly the taste. Free amino acids are
It increases during aging and contributes most to the improvement of taste. For example, there have been some reports regarding changes in the content of free amino acids with beef ripening, and it is known that glutamic acid and sweet amino acids alanine and glycine, which are involved in umami, are increased (Nishimura, T. et.
al. , Agric. Biol. Chem. , 52 , 2
323-2330 (1988)). To improve the taste,
Cathepsins and calpains produce peptides,
It has been clarified that aminopeptidase acts mainly on this to generate each free amino acid (Nishimura et al., Meat Science, 29, 1-13 (1988)).

Therefore, attempts have been made to act exogenous proteases and peptidases on meat for the purpose of shortening the ripening period and improving the taste after aging (Nishimura et al., Science of Meat, 29, 1-13 (1988). )).

However, when these enzymes alone are added to meat for the above-mentioned purpose, for example, streaks tend to remain but tend to remain, or the tissue loses elasticity due to excessive decomposition of myofibrillar proteins. Becoming brittle,
The original texture of meat may be significantly lost. In addition, no marked improvement in the flavor or taste of the meat itself is observed, and depending on the type of enzyme, an offensive odor or bitterness derived from decomposition products may occur.

[0007]

Therefore, the problems to be solved by the present invention are, in the case of a low-quality part, the improvement of physical properties such as the tenderization of meat by the conventional use of an enzyme alone and the remarkable taste and taste of meat. It is a point that the purpose of improving taste and enhancing taste cannot be achieved at the same time.

[0008]

[Means for Solving the Problems] With the liberalization of importation of beef, a major problem for domestic meat manufacturers is how to use low-quality parts such as thighs and shins having many streaks. On the other hand, it is considered that if these difficult-to-use parts are processed to improve the added value, they can be effectively used, which will lead to a large business. The present inventors have conducted intensive studies to improve the meat quality and flavor of low-quality parts, which are the above-mentioned problems, and by solving the above problems by selecting an appropriate enzyme according to the purpose, the present invention Was completed. That is, the present invention relates to a meat flavor improving agent comprising elastase, and one or two or more kinds of enzymes selected from protease, peptidase, amylase and collagenase, and the meat flavor of poultry meat using the improving agent. It is an improved method.

The protease in the meat flavor improving agent used in the present invention is specifically a protease derived from a plant such as papain, bromelain, ficin, actinidine, a microorganism derived from subtilisin, thermolysin, or an animal such as trypsin and cathepsin. It is an endopeptidase that cleaves from the middle of the binding chain. In general, when these enzymes act on meat, they act well on myofibrillar proteins such as myosin and actin, but not on hard proteins such as collagen and elastin.
Therefore, although it is soft, streaks remain, the original texture of meat is lost due to excessive decomposition of myofibrillar protein, and an offensive odor and an unpleasant taste are generated, so it is necessary to pay attention to the amount of enzyme and the reaction conditions. is there. However,
Depending on the conditions, there is also an advantage of promoting softening by appropriately destroying the structure of myofibrils, which is one of the causes of the hardness of meat.

Next, the peptidase in the meaty flavor improving agent used in the present invention is specifically a peptide chain such as leucine aminopeptidase, aminopeptidase M, carboxypeptidase A, Y widely distributed in the plant, animal and microbial kingdoms. It is an exopeptidase that releases one amino acid at a time from either end. It is generally known that when a food protein such as milk casein or soybean protein is treated with a protease, a bitter peptide having leucine at the terminal is produced and the flavor is remarkably reduced. Therefore, it has been attempted to decompose this bitter peptide with various peptidases to release amino acids from the amino terminus and the carboxyl terminus to improve the taste (Ishida et al., Food Journal, 23 , 524-530).
(1976)). In the case of meat, a hard protein that is hardly decomposed by a normal protease is decomposed by elastase or collagenase to be softened, and then alanine or glycine (50% in total) which is very much present in elastin or collagen is used by using an appropriate peptidase. By liberating a sweetening amino acid such as 100% or more), remarkable taste improvement can be expected.

The amylase used in the meat quality improving agent of the present invention is specifically an exo-type such as glucoamylase or β-amylase which separates a glucose unit from a non-reducing end and α-amylase or isoamylase. It is an endo-type amylase that decomposes almost randomly. Generally, carbohydrates such as galactose and glucose are distributed on the network in collagen fibers existing around muscles and connective tissues, and when this carbohydrate is decomposed with an appropriate amylase, the bond between collagen and carbohydrate is cleaved, resulting in collagen. Is likely to be susceptible to protease attack.

Further, the collagenase used in the meat quality improving agent of the present invention is specifically a collagenase derived from bacteria which specifically cleaves a sequence such as glycylproline, which is a primary structure peculiar to collagen, in front of glycine. It is an animal-derived collagenase that cuts collagen molecules into large fragments. Ordinary protease and elastase can hardly decompose collagen due to its special structure. Therefore, it is considered that by combining collagen and elastin, which are the main components of hard proteins, with collagenase and elastase, it is possible to efficiently decompose and soften low-quality meat.

The elastase used in the meat quality improving agent of the present invention may be of any origin. Therefore, as long as it has elastase activity, those derived from animals, plants and microorganisms are used. However, elastase derived from an alkaline Bacillus bacterium is preferable. This elastase was produced by Yamazaki et al. In the alkaline bacterium Bacillus (alkalop).
hilic Bacillus sp. ) Ya-B strain (AJ 12619, FERM P-12261) found in the culture filtrate (Tsai, YC et a).
l. , Biochem. Int. , 7 , 577-583
(1983)). This enzyme has a very strong elastin degrading power compared to the elastase known so far,
Compared with plant-derived proteases such as papain which has been used as a meat tenderizer, it causes almost no excessive degradation of myofibrillar protein. Therefore, it can be said that the present enzyme is effective as a meat tenderizer that softens while maintaining the texture peculiar to meat. In addition to the present enzyme, an enzyme that decomposes connective tissue in muscle and hardly decomposes myofibrillar protein in the pH range of meat as described above is desirable as a meat quality improving agent.

The production of the enzyme used as the meaty taste improving agent according to the present invention can be carried out by a method of preparing it from bacterial cells or culture solution of microorganisms or tissue of animals or plants, as described in the following examples. It is not limited, and it is also possible to replace the mutated gene with the wild-type gene by homologous recombination into the chromosome by the recombinant DNA method using Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis or yeast as a host. Therefore, the enzyme produced by any method can be expected to have the same effect. The elastase used in the present invention is an elastase produced by an alkaline bacterium belonging to the genus Bacillus, which has a remarkably strong activity as compared with the conventionally known elastase. -316
No. 261), but prepared from the ammonium sulfate precipitate of the culture supernatant of the enzyme-producing bacterium, but the production method is not limited thereto.

The improving agent and the improving method of the present invention can be applied to a wide range. For example, waste meat such as old beef does not become meat due to its hardness, and waste meat that has been discarded is also used. It is also possible to change to normal meat.

The total enzyme content in the meat quality improving agent according to the present invention is not particularly limited, but is usually about 0.01 to 100 mg, preferably about 0.1 to 50 mg per 1 g of the meat quality improving agent. It may be contained. At this time, the weight ratio of elastase to the other enzyme is 1: 0.01 to 1
About 00 is preferable. In this case, a purified enzyme may be used, or a crude product may be used. In addition, as a stabilizer and a bulking agent, calcium chloride, serum albumin,
Glycerol, dextrin, sodium citrate and the like may be contained alone or in combination of two or more. The meaty taste improver according to the present invention may be in the form of powder,
Further, it may be in the form of a solution dissolved in water or a buffer solution.

Next, regarding the method of using the meat quality improving agent of the present invention, sprinkling the meat between immediately after slaughter and before cooking, or by pouring into the meat, a solution containing the meat improving agent is added. It is also possible to employ a method in which the improving agent is directly injected into a vein or muscle immediately before slaughtering meat or immediately after slaughtering an animal, and is uniformly dispersed in the whole tissue, and then slaughtered, and a usual procedure is applied. The enzyme-treated meat can be reacted in a refrigerator or at room temperature, but the higher the temperature, the faster the reaction will proceed. The amount of the enzyme used in the present invention varies depending on the type of meat, the amount of connective tissue present in the meat, the treatment temperature, the treatment time, the treatment method, etc., and therefore cannot be fixed, but is usually 0.1 per 1 kg of meat. ~ 100 mg. The description will be repeated, but the addition amount is not limited. The method for improving the meaty flavor using the present enzyme will be described below with reference to Examples.

[0018]

【Example】

Example 1 In this example, the physical properties were measured by a breaking test to improve the softness and taste of meat using elastase and protease.
It was examined by heat solubility of collagen and sensory evaluation by a panelist. In addition, elastase is an alkaline bacterium belonging to the genus Bacillus (alkalophilic Bacillus).
sp. ) Ya-B strain (AJ 12619, FERM
P-12261), and a commercially available papain was used as the protease.

500 g of 2.5 kg of thigh meat of US imported beef
Each was divided into 5 groups and subjected to the treatment described below, and then left overnight in a refrigerator (about 4 ° C). Non-treated zone Non-treated zone 50 ml of tap water was randomly injected into 500 g of meat. After treatment with ammonium sulfate, 50 ml of 1,200 units of elastase solution (corresponding to 0.5 mg of purified enzyme) dissolved in tap water was randomly injected into 500 g of meat. Treatment area 0.25 mg of papain (derived from papaya) dissolved in tap water, 50 ml of meat is randomly added to meat 5
It was injected at 00 g. Treatment area Elastase dissolved in tap water (2.5 mg
Min) and papain (0.5 mg) mixed solution (50 ml) was randomly injected into 500 g of meat.

After that, part of the meat is 4 cm × 4 cm × 3 c
After cutting into m (about 100 g) and heat treatment at 70 ° C. for 20 minutes, a breaking test by a rheometer (Fudo Kogyo) was conducted. The results of measuring the stress at a depth of 3 mm with a cutting force of 5 kg are shown in Table 1.

[0021]

[Table 1]

From the results of the breaking test, the cutting force was hardly changed by only injecting water, and the meat remained in a hard state. However, the cutting force was reduced and the meat was softened by the treatment with elastase or papain. Was given. The softening effect was further recognized by the mixed treatment of elastase and papain.

Next, the heat solubility of collagen is determined by the method of Hill et al. (J. Food Sci., 31 , 161 (19).
66)). First, after freezing 30 g of meat, homogenize and add 100 times amount of 6N hydrochloric acid to 110
Acid hydrolysis was performed at 24 ° C. for 24 hours. After hydrolysis, the amount of hydroxyproline released in the supernatant was quantified to determine the amount of collagen in the whole tissue. Then add the same amount of meat to 0.
After homogenizing in a 03M NaCl aqueous solution, 77 ° C,
It was extracted for 60 minutes, and the supernatant after centrifugation was acid-hydrolyzed in the same manner. After hydrolysis, the amount of released hydroxyproline in the supernatant was quantified to determine the amount of collagen dissolved by heating. The results are shown in Table 2.

[0024]

[Table 2]

It is generally said that the solubility of intramuscular collagen has a positive correlation with the tenderness of meat, but the results in Table 2 also show that the heat treatment of collagen is increased by the mixed treatment of elastase and papain. It was in agreement with the result of the breaking test by the rheometer.

Further, myofibrillar proteins after removing large streaks from the treated meat according to a conventional method were prepared (Kimura, S. et al., J. Bioche.
m. , 94 , 2083-2085 (1983)). When a part of the mixture was subjected to SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, excessive degradation of myosin or actin, which is a drawback of the treatment of papain alone, was not recognized in the treatment of mixing elastase and papain. Therefore, it was suggested that the offensive odor and off-flavor caused by the bitter peptide due to the excessive decomposition of myofibrillar protein may be reduced by the mixed treatment of elastase and papain.

The influence of such changes in physical properties on the sensory evaluation of the enzyme-treated meat was examined. Season the rest of the meat with 1% salt, cook each on a separate frying pan under the same heating power at the same time,
Produced a steak. Before the meat has stopped, the panelist 1
Two people conducted a comprehensive evaluation in terms of appearance, flavor, taste, texture, juiciness, connective tissue hardness, and tissue brittleness. The results are shown in Table 3.

[0028]

[Table 3]

In the mixed treatment group of elastase and papain, the softness, flavor and taste were obviously improved as compared with the single treatment group of each enzyme, and the overall evaluation was also high. Therefore, in addition to the effect of softening while maintaining the original texture of meat, which is a feature of the present elastase, the combination of both enzymes succeeded in significantly improving the taste of meat.

Further, even when the scale of this experiment was enlarged and each enzyme treatment was carried out by the hand injector used on the industrial scale, the same excellent effect was obtained. From this, it was proved that the present invention is a sufficiently industrially used technique.

Example 2 In this example, the softening of meat and the improvement of taste using elastase and peptidase were examined by quantitative determination of free amino acids, physical property measurement by a breaking test, and sensory evaluation by panelists. Elastase was derived from an alkaline bacterium of the genus Bacillus as in Example 1, and commercially available carboxypeptidase Y and leucine aminopeptidase were used as peptidases.

First, the action on collagen and elastin, which are the main components of the connective tissue of thigh meat, was examined. 50 mg of commercially available insoluble collagen or elastin powder (Sigma)
1 ml of an elastase aqueous solution (enzyme amount 50 μg) was added to the reaction mixture, and the mixture was reacted at 37 ° C. with shaking for 1 hour. Then, 300 μg of carboxypeptidase Y (derived from baker's yeast),
Or leucine aminopeptidase (from porcine kidney) 3
Add 00 μg (both enzymes are from Sigma) for 1 more
Reacted for hours. Then, 1 ml of reaction stop solution (0.7
M phosphate buffer, pH 6.0) was added, and the undegraded substrate and enzyme protein were removed by centrifugation, and the amino acids released in the supernatant were analyzed and quantified. Table 4 shows the results of characteristic amino acids.

[0033]

[Table 4]

There was no amino acid significantly increased by the elastase or each peptidase treatment alone as compared with the non-treatment, but the sweetener amino acids alanine, glycine, threonine, and serine were clearly increased by the mixed treatment of both enzymes. Was. Among them, the amounts of alanine and glycine contained in collagen and elastin in a large amount were remarkably increased. In addition, the amount of glutamic acid, which is the umami component, also increased slightly. From these results, in hard proteins (collagen and elastin) that were difficult to decompose by conventional enzyme treatment, the combination of elastase and peptidase increased free amino acids, mainly sweet amino acids, involved in the taste formation of meat. Therefore, it was suggested that the taste power is improved overall.

Next, changes in physical properties when the meat was actually treated with an enzyme were examined by a breaking test using a rheometer.
4 kg each of 2 kg of thigh meat of imported beef from Australia
After divided into groups, the treatments described below were performed, and the mixture was allowed to stand overnight in a refrigerator (about 4 ° C.). Non-treated zone Non-treated zone 50 ml of tap water was randomly injected into 500 g of meat. Treatment area After salting out with ammonium sulfate, 50 ml of 6,000 units of elastase solution (corresponding to 2.5 mg of purified enzyme) dissolved in tap water was randomly injected into 500 g of meat. Treatment area Elastase dissolved in tap water (2.5 mg
Min) and leucine aminopeptidase (10 mg min) were randomly injected into 500 g of meat.

After that, part of the meat is 4 cm × 4 cm × 3 c
After cutting into m (about 100 g) and heat treatment at 70 ° C. for 20 minutes, a breaking test by a rheometer (Fudo Kogyo) was conducted. The results of measuring the stress at a depth of 3 mm with a cutting force of 5 kg are shown in Table 5.

[0037]

[Table 5]

From the results of the breaking test, it was confirmed that the cutting force was decreased by treating with the enzyme and the meat was softened as compared with the non-treatment or the water treatment as before.

It was examined how such changes in physical properties affect the sensory evaluation when eating the enzyme-treated meat. Season the rest of the meat with 1% salt, cook each on a separate frying pan under the same heating power at the same time,
Produced a steak. Before the meat has stopped, the panelist 1
Two people conducted a comprehensive evaluation in terms of appearance, flavor, taste, texture, juiciness, connective tissue hardness, and tissue brittleness. The results are shown in Table 6.

[0040]

[Table 6]

From the results of the sensory test, the softness was improved by the elastase alone treatment as compared with the non-treatment or the water treatment, and the overall evaluation was enhanced. Furthermore, the combined evaluation of elastase and peptidase further improved the overall evaluation by significantly improving the taste and taste items. From the above results, it was shown that the treatment with the combination of both enzymes is an extremely effective method for improving the tenderness and taste of meat.

Further, the same excellent effect was obtained even when the scale of this experiment was enlarged and each enzyme treatment was carried out by a hand injector used on an industrial scale. From this, it was proved that the present invention is a sufficiently industrially used technique.

[0043]

Industrial Applicability As described above, since the meat quality improving agent of the present invention is a combination of elastase and one or more kinds of enzymes selected from protease, peptidase, amylase and collagenase, it is effective for cattle, pork and chicken. Among such meats, there is an advantage that the quality of the low-quality part, which is hard and has many streaks, is improved before cooking to impart softness and taste to increase the added value. Further, the present invention is useful in that it can be carried out in a very wide range from the neutral pH range of the meat to the alkaline range, and does not cause excessive decomposition of the muscles associated with cooking, thereby impairing the original texture of the meat. Can be improved without.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A meaty taste improving agent comprising elastase and one or more kinds of enzymes selected from protease, peptidase, amylase and collagenase. 2. The meaty taste improving agent according to claim 1, wherein the elastase is produced by an alkaline Bacillus bacterium. 3. A method for improving meat flavor, which comprises causing the meat quality flavor improving agent according to claim 1 or 2 to act on poultry meat.