Recently, the Innovative Team on Meat Science and Nutritional Engineering at the Institute of Food Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, has made new progress in the field of electrostatic field preservation of fresh meat. The related research findings have been published in Food Chemistry (JCR Q1, IF = 10.4), a top journal in the food science field. Yuqian Xu, a 2021 cohort Ph.D. student jointly trained between China and Belgium, is the first author of the paper, and Professor Chengli Hou is the corresponding author.

Postmortem glycolysis is a crucial physiological and biochemical process that occurs in the muscle of livestock and poultry after slaughter. An excessively rapid glycolysis rate can lead to a sharp decline in muscle pH, protein denaturation, and excessive muscle contraction, ultimately compromising the eating quality and economic value of fresh meat. Controlled freezing point storage (−1.5 to 0 °C) can maintain meat quality by delaying the glycolysis process, but this temperature range is narrow and unstable, and minor temperature fluctuations may undermine its preservation efficacy. Although electric field-assisted controlled freezing point storage can effectively preserve the quality of fresh meat, its specific mechanism of action on the postmortem glycolysis process remains unclear.

This study systematically evaluated the effects of high-voltage electrostatic field (HVEF, 12 kV) assisted controlled freezing point storage (−1 ± 0.5 °C) on glycolytic metabolism in pork during the 0-24 h postmortem period. The results showed that, compared with the group without electrostatic field treatment, HVEF treatment significantly slowed the rate of pH decline and delayed the depletion of ATP content. Meanwhile, the treatment effectively inhibited glycogen degradation and lactic acid accumulation, and significantly reduced the activity and abundance of pyruvate kinase (PK), a rate-limiting enzyme in glycolysis. Furthermore, through an established in vitro glycolytic model, the study confirmed that HVEF treatment inhibited pyruvate kinase activity, reduced pyruvate production, and decreased the phosphorylation level of myofibrillar proteins. In addition, electrostatic field treatment delayed μ-calpain autolysis, thereby protecting the integrity of key structural proteins such as actin.

This study elucidates the mechanism by which electrostatic fields delay postmortem glycolysis from the perspectives of enzyme activity regulation and protein phosphorylation, confirming that electrostatic field treatment can effectively slow muscle energy metabolism and maintain muscle protein structure. These findings provide an important theoretical basis for the practical application of electric field preservation technology.

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China.

Original link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2026.148928