Effect of PEF treatment on meat quality attributes, ultrastructure and metabolite profiles of wet and dry aged venison Longissimus dorsi muscle

This study determined the effects of low-pulsed electric field (LPEF-2.5 kV, 50 Hz, 20 μs) and high-PEF (HPEF-10 kV, 50 Hz, 20 μs) on the quality attributes and metabolite profiles of wet and dry aged venison M Longissimus dorsi (LD) muscles. Twelve loins from six red deer at 24 h postmortem were randomly assigned to seven treatments: No-PEF control (WAC), heated control (HC), dry aged No-PEF control (DAC), wet aged LPEF (WALPEF), dry aged LPEF (DALPEF), wet aged HPEF (WAHPEF), and dry aged HPEF (DAHPEF). Samples were aged 21d at 4 °C at 80% relative humidity. HPEF treatment improved meat tenderness by 9%. Metabolite profiles were unaffected by all PEF treatment groups with key differences found due to ageing method. These observations demonstrate the viability of HPEF in improving drying rate (by 6%) and tenderisation of venison LD muscle during the dry ageing process, which will improve product quality and production efficiency.