Detection of glucose oxidation products in chilled fresh beef undergoing spoilage.

The fate of nutrients during storage of longissimus dorsi muscle at 4 degrees C was examined. Glucose concentrations in meat were shown to decrease concomitantly with an approximately fourfold increase in the activity of glucose dehydrogenase. Gluconate concentrations in meat were determined by an enzyme assay and shown to increase from 2.1 to 40.6 microgram/g upon storage of the meat from day 0 to day 6. At day 12, gluconate concentrations had decreased to 5.8 microgram/g. Dark firm dry meat, which contains little or no glucose, did not exhibit the same rise and fall in gluconate concentration. Thin-layer chromatographic analysis confirmed the presence of 2-ketogluconate in 6- and 12-day-old longissimus dorsi muscle that had been stored at 4 degrees C. Gluconate concentrations in irradiated sterile meat inoculated with Pseudomonas fluorescens increased from 4.2 to 77.8 microgram/g during the first 6 days of storage at 4 degrees C. Therefore, glucose in meat stored at 4 degrees C appeared to be converted to gluconate, 2-ketogluconate, or both extracellularly by one of the main meat spoilage organisms, most likely the pseudomonads.