The development of chicken meat flavor from the interaction between Maillard reaction intermediates and enzymatically hydrolyzed-oxidized chicken fat.

Meat flavor production faces challenges of flavor instability from volatile Maillard reaction products (MRPs) and off-flavors from excessive high-temperature lipid oxidation (>140 °C). To address this, Maillard-lipid interaction system was established via the mixture containing Amadori rearrangement product, 2-threityl-thiazolidine-4-carboxylic acid and amino acids, named MRIs, and enzymatically hydrolyzed-oxidized chicken fat (EHOC) to elucidate their interaction mechanism and develop optimized chicken meat flavor. General analysis towards the flavor compounds derived from the MRIs suggested that higher temperature at 120 °C was more favorable for meat flavor formation. The regulation of oxidation parameters revealed that thermal treatment at 80 °C with air flow rate of 30 L/h for 1.5 h was the optimum parameter for EHOC and they regulated the concentrations of the flavor compound rather than caused changes in flavor formation mechanisms. The constructed Maillard-lipid interaction system improved the overall flavor profile via amplifying the formation of 2-acteylthiazole, generating long-chain alkyl substitution such as 2-hexanoylthiophene and 2-propanoylthiophene, and embellish the flavor profile. This low temperature EHOC enabling precise flavor control at 80 °C, avoiding off-flavor caused by excessive oxidation, moreover, the synergy redirected reaction networks: lipid aldehydes suppressed furan formation but enabled new heterocycles. This study provides further insights into stabilizing flavor precursors and precisely controlling oxidation, enabling sustainable industrial meat flavor production.