Abstract: As an important ingredient in meat and meat products, muscle proteins are not only an important index to measure the nutritional value of meat products, but also have an important influence on the sensory quality. Muscle proteins have no flavor of their own, but can interact with flavor compounds and consequently act as a flavor carrier and improver affecting flavor release and perception in meat products. In this paper, we provide a brief review on the interaction of muscle proteins with flavor compounds, and summarize the factors causing structural changes of muscle proteins and the effects of structural changes on the interaction between muscle proteins and flavor compounds. We expect this review to provide a theoretical basis and reference for controlling the flavor quality of meat products.

Key words: muscle proteins, flavor compounds, interaction mechanism, protein structure, factors