Proteomics analysis to investigate the impact of diversified thermal processing on meat tenderness in Hengshan goat meat

During the thermal processing, proteins of Hengshan goat meat undergo structural modifications such as degradation, oxidation and denaturation, ultimately affect the palatability and acceptability. The results of several objective metrics demonstrated that thermal processing exhibited significant impacts on the tenderness of goat meat. The 551, 84, 72, and 121 proteins were identified in the control and thermal processed groups (boiled, steamed, and roasted), respectively. Compared with the control group, the 101, 98, and 109 differentially-expressed proteins were explored in the treatment groups. Furthermore, the functions of metabolic and skeletal muscle proteome were investigated and discussed. Sensory evaluation and proteomics analysis showed that steaming and boiling treatment had no significant effect on the tenderness of goat meat, while roasting significantly reduced the tenderness, indicating that the available thermal processing methods to ensure the tenderness of goat meat were steaming and boiling treatments. Thus, the established proteomics database of goat meat provided the valuable reference for rational selection of thermal processing methods.