Molecular insights into quality and authentication of sheep meat from proteomics and metabolomics

Abstract

Sheep meat (encompassing lamb, hogget and mutton) is an important source of animal protein in many countries, with a unique flavour and sensory profile compared to other red meats. Flavour, colour and texture are the key quality attributes contributing to consumer liking of sheep meat. Over the last decades, various factors from ‘farm to fork’, including production system (e.g., age, breed, feeding regimes, sex, pre-slaughter stress, and carcass suspension), post-mortem manipulation and processing (e.g., electrical stimulation, ageing, packaging types, and chilled and frozen storage) have been identified as influencing different aspects of sheep meat quality. However conventional meat-quality assessment tools are not able to elucidate the underlying mechanisms and pathways for quality variations. Advances in broad-based analytical techniques have offered opportunities to obtain deeper insights into the molecular changes of sheep meat which may become biomarkers for specific variations in quality traits and meat authenticity. This review provides an overview on how omics techniques, especially proteomics (including peptidomics) and metabolomics (including lipidomics and volatilomics) are applied to elucidate the variations in sheep meat quality, mainly in loin muscles, focusing on colour, texture and flavour, and as tools for authentication.