Study on the Correlations between Quality Indicators of Dry-Aged Beef and Microbial Succession during Fermentation.

Dry-aged beef has been long favored by people due to its unique flavor and taste. However, the inner relationship between its overall quality formation and microbial changes during dry aging has not yet received much attention and research. To deeply reveal the forming mechanism of the unique flavor and taste of dry-aged beef, correlations between its three main quality indicators, i.e., texture, free amino acids (FAAs), volatile flavor compounds (VFCs), and microbial succession were analyzed in this study. The results showed that spp. and spp. were key strains that influenced the total quality of dry-aged beef and strongly correlated with chewiness, hardness, and sweet FAAs (Ala), providing beef with unique palatability and taste. Additionally, among VFCs, spp. and spp. showed a strong correlation with octanal and heptanal, and meanwhile, those highly correlated with nonanal, pentanol, and oct-1-en-3-ol were spp., spp., and spp., respectively, providing beef with a unique flavor. spp. was proposed to be the dominant genus for dry-aged beef. This study provides valuable reference for the understanding of the role of microorganisms involved in dry aging.