Thermal processing-induced proteolysis drives concurrent changes in bioactive peptides, flavor volatiles, and umami taste compounds in dairy beef tenderloin.

This study quantitatively profiled bioactive peptides, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and umami nucleotides in dairy beef tenderloin subjected to five thermal processing methods (microwave, boiling, steaming, pan-grilling, oven) to elucidate their impacts on peptide bioactivity, flavor profiles, and sensory attributes. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry identified 154 VOCs with method-specific clustering, pan-grilling maximized pleasant volatiles (pyrazines, aldehydes), total free amino acids (particularly sweet-tasting threonine, serine, alanine), and higher AMP nucleotides (p < 0.05), while peptidomics revealed elevated sarcoplasmic protein degradation yielding bioactive sequences, including DPP-IV and ACE-inhibitory peptides from enolase and creatine kinase. Sensory evaluation confirmed higher preferability in aroma, taste, and overall acceptability (p < 0.05) compared to that of steam cooking. These findings demonstrate pan-grilling optimizes flavor, sensory quality, and antihypertensive/antidiabetic peptide bioactivity to in dairy beef tenderloin.