A comparative study of tea polyphenols and its palmitic acid-modified derivatives: their effects on the microbial ecosystem and biogenic amines in Chinese sausage.

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Control of biogenic amines (BAs) is important to guarantee the safety of sausage-like fermented meat products. This study investigated the influences of tea polyphenols (TP) and its lipophilic palmitic acid-modified derivatives, palmitoyl-TP (pTP) and palmitoyl-epigallocatechin gallate (pEGCG), on BAs and microbial ecosystem in Chinese sausages. TP, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), pTP, and pEGCG all reduced the formation of BAs and -nitrosodimethylamine at 0.05% (g/g); yet, compared with TP and EGCG, the modified derivatives exhibited stronger action on BAs decreasing ( < 0.05), and pEGCG showed the highest effect (a reduction of total BAs from 376.22 to 168.98 mg/kg compared to control). The improved inhibitory effect of pTP and pEGCG should be attributed to their stronger dual-directional regulation of the bacterial and fungal communities during the natural fermentation of sausage. The modified pTP and pEGCG highly suppressed the growth of , and , all of which were positively correlated with BAs formation (all  < 0.05). However, pTP and pEGCG worked more effectively than the unmodified ones to promote , , and (all  < 0.05). The results above are significant for the application of palmitoyl-TP and similar TP derivatives in meat products in consideration of food safety.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13197-023-05717-z.