Chilled beef is widely valued by consumers for its tender texture, desirable flavor, and high nutritional value. However, its high susceptibility to microbial contamination and spoilage results in a limited shelf life. In this study, quality changes in chilled ribeye stored at 4 °C were evaluated over periods of 0, 3, 6, 9, and 12 days. A total of 140 volatile metabolites were identified using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). By applying analysis of variance and random forest algorithms, 20 differentially abundant metabolites, such as trimethylamine, undecanone, and 2,3-dimethylpyrazine, were selected. Enrichment analysis of metabolic pathways revealed that sulfur metabolism, phenylalanine metabolism, and nicotinate/nicotinamide metabolism play central roles in ribeye spoilage. Correlation analysis further elucidated the relationships between quality indicators and key volatile metabolites. The total viable count (TVC) strongly positively correlated with 2,3-dimethylpyrazine and 2-(methylthio) acetaldehyde but strongly negatively correlated (|r| > 0.8) with 2,6,10-trimethyltridecane and 2-methyldecane (|r| > 0.8). 6-Methylindole was strongly positively correlated with pH, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), and total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N) (|r| > 0.86). These results provide important insights into the quality evolution of beef during refrigerated storage. • GC–MS profiling captured 140 volatiles in chilled beef spoilage. • Twenty key spoilage metabolites identified via ANOVA–RF. • Sulfur and phenylalanine pathways dominated spoilage shifts. • Volatile biomarkers proposed for monitoring refrigerated beef quality.
Di et al. (Sun,) studied this question.