Assessing the fate of fatty acid esters of hydroxy fatty acids, diglycerides and monoacetyldiacylglycerides in grilled ruminant meats marinated with unfiltered beer-based marinades.

Ruminant meats contain functional lipids including fatty acid esters of hydroxy fatty acids (FAHFA), diglycerides (DG), monoacetyldiglycerides (MAcDG) and medium chain triglycerides (McTG) whose consumption in the normal diet can confer benefits for consumer health. However, very little is known concerning how meat processing techniques such as marination and grilling affect the quantity and quality of these functional lipids in ruminant meats. We used ultra high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to high resolution accurate mass tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-HRAM-MS/MS) to show how grilling following marination with either India or Wheat ale unfiltered beer-based marinades affected the quantity and quality of these functional lipids in ruminant meats. We observed MAcDG was completely degraded in grilled meats. Both unfiltered beer-based marinades retained higher (p < 0.05) levels of FAHFA, DG and McTG in grilled meats compared to their unmarinated counterparts. Furthermore, India ale-based marinade was more effective (p < 0.05) compared to Wheat ale-based marinade in preserving these lipids in marinated grilled beef and moose meat. Significantly, strong correlations between antioxidants, polyphenols and oxygenated terpenes present in the marinades and preserved lipid molecular species appear to suggest that antioxidants, polyphenols, and oxygenated terpenes present in the marinades could be associated with preservation of these functional lipids in the grilled meats. These findings appear to suggest that marination could preserve some of these functional lipids with India ale-based marination proving to be more effective. However, further work is required to better improve the retention of MAcDG in grilled ruminant meats. This could potentially increase consumption of FAHFA, DG, MAcDG and McTG in the diet and thereby promote consumer health.