Comparison of Plant-Based Meat Alternatives and Meat

Significance of the topic

Consumer demand for sustainable and nutritious foods has driven rapid growth in plant-based meat alternatives. Comparing their amino acid profiles with those of conventional meat supports nutritional evaluation, product development, and quality control in the food industry.

Objectives and overview

This study aims to develop and validate a robust analytical workflow for determining the amino acid composition of beef burger patties and plant-based analogues using an Agilent 1260 Infinity II LC system with automated precolumn derivatization and fluorescence detection.

Methodology and instrumentation

Amino acids were released by 24-hour hydrolysis in 6 M HCl at 110 °C. Automated derivatization employed o-phthalaldehyde (OPA) for primary amino acids and 9-fluorenylmethyl chloroformate (FMOC) for secondary amino acids, executed by the 1260 Infinity II Multisampler injector program.

• Column: Agilent AdvanceBio AAA, 3.0 × 100 mm, 2.7 µm with guard
• Mobile phases: (A) 10 mM sodium phosphate/borate buffer, pH 8.2; (B) acetonitrile:methanol:water (45:45:10)
• Gradient: 2% to 100% B over 14 min, total run time 17 min; flow rate 0.6 mL/min at 40 °C
• Detection: fluorescence at 345/455 nm for OPA adducts, switching to 265/315 nm for FMOC adducts

Instrumentation

• Agilent 1260 Infinity II Binary Pump (G7112B)
• Agilent 1260 Infinity II Multisampler (G7167A)
• Agilent 1260 Infinity II Multicolumn Thermostat (G7116A)
• Agilent 1260 Infinity II Fluorescence Detector (G7121B)
• OpenLab CDS software v2.6 or later

Main results and discussion

Calibration over 0.45–90 pmol/µL showed excellent linearity (R² > 0.999) and limits of detection below 0.2 pmol for most amino acids. Repeatability was outstanding (RT RSD <0.1%, area RSD <1%). Recovery studies on bovine serum albumin yielded 85–115% recoveries for most residues, except lower cystine recovery (45%) and tryptophan loss. Analysis of burger samples revealed that plant-based patties exhibit higher glutamic acid and lower lysine, alanine, glycine, and methionine compared to beef, reflecting the underlying protein sources.

Benefits and practical applications

• Automated derivatization reduces manual handling errors and labor time
• Fast 17-minute runtime supports high-throughput analysis
• High sensitivity and reproducibility enhance quality control
• Method is adaptable to diverse protein hydrolysates

Future trends and opportunities

• Integration with mass spectrometry to extend analyte coverage
• Development of enzymatic hydrolysis to preserve labile residues (e.g., tryptophan)
• High-throughput workflows for large-scale nutritional studies
• Application of chemometrics and predictive modeling linking composition to sensory and health outcomes

Conclusion

The described LC-FLD method with automated precolumn derivatization on the Agilent 1260 Infinity II platform provides a rapid, sensitive, and reliable tool for amino acid profiling of meat and plant-based products, supporting nutritional assessment and quality assurance in food analysis.

References

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