Effects of phosphate, ascorbic acid, α-tocopherol and salt with nonvacuum tumbling on lipid oxidation and warmed-over flavor of roast beef

Warmed-over flavor (WOF) is the oxidative rancidity of cooked meat during refrigerated storage. The objective of this study was to compare the effectiveness of three antioxidants (phosphate, ascorbic acid and alpha-tocopherol) with tumbling to retard lipid oxidation and to give more insight into WOF of precooked roast beef. The salted samples had significantly higher yields than the nonsalted roast beef. The 0.3% salt did not significantly promote lipid oxidation in refrigerated roast beef if three antioxidants were added. The control, which was not an injected treatment, had higher thicbarbituric acid reactive substrance (TBARS) values compared to other treatments that had the same values at day 2, 4 and 7. According to the sensory evaluation, the descriptor "oxidized" used to describe WOF and warmed-over aroma (WOA) of the control had significantly higher values compared to other treatments. WOFO (oxidized), WOFC (cardboardy), WOAO (oxidized) and WOAC (cardboardy) scores of treatments significantly increased at day 7 compared to those at day 0. For roast beef flavor, the descriptor "fresh cooked beef" (FCB) scores for treatments indicated an insignificant difference. However, the FCB score was significantly lower at day 7 than that at day 0.