Protein Quality of Fermented Beef by Lactobacillus plantarum 1B1

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the proteolytic activity and protein characteristics of fermented beef. The effect of different mechanical treatments on beef, (sliced and ground beef) was compared. The contents of amino acid were analyzed using HPLC (high performance liquid chromatography) method. The results indicated that Lactobacillus plantarum 1B1, isolated from beef, had better proteolytic activity on sliced fermented beef if compared to ground fermented beef, and improved crude protein on sliced fermented beef. Sliced and groud fermented beef contained 15 components of amino acids which consisted of threonine, tyrosine, methionine, valine, phenylalanine, isoleucine, leucine and lysine as essential amino acid and aspartate, glutamate, serine, histidine, glycine, alanine and arginine as non-essential amino acids. Leucine was the highest among essential amino acids content and glutamate was the highest among non-essential amino acids content. The SDS PAGE profiles showed the beef protein molecule weight range of 94.71 - 13.43 kD. The numbers of protein band of fresh beef, sliced and ground fermented beef were 12, 7 and 7. In conclusion, fermentation process on raw beef by Lactobacillus plantarum could improve amino acid availability because of its proteolytic activity on beef protein.