Insights into Luncheon Meat Sample Storage and Cooking Duration

The Maillard reaction plays a crucial role in shaping the appearance, aroma, and taste of cooked meat, with the first two factors driving initial appeal. Therefore, effectively managing the Maillard reaction is essential for gaining deeper analytical insights that support food research and development. This study aims to demonstrate the automation of handling chilled meat samples and cooking them prior to analyte extraction with dynamic headspace and chromatographic analysis. The work also highlights the capability of the GERSTEL DHS 3.5+ option and its unique dry purge function to extract aroma compounds from high-moisture samples, and how its sensitivity can be further enhanced using the fractionated DHS approach. Luncheon meat, chosen for its versatility, is used as the model sample in this study. The fully automated method is then applied to three variations – pork-, chicken-, and plant-based – to investigate how cooking duration affects the Maillard reaction. Sensory evaluations are also done to complement instrumental analysis and provide a comprehensive understanding of flavor development.