Flavor enhancement of cell-cultured fish meat: regulating the generation and release of volatiles through targeted fatty acid supplementation

Replicating the authentic flavor profile of cell-cultured seafood remains a critical bottleneck, as current models predominantly based on monocultured myoblasts inherently lack the essential lipid-derived flavor precursors found in natural fish. This study constructed a cell-cultured fish meat (CM) model to investigate the flavor formation mechanisms driven by thermal interactions between the non-lipid cellular framework and exogenous fatty acids (oleic acid: OA; docosahexaenoic acid: DHA). Utilizing electronic nose and HS-SPME-GC-MS coupled with partial least-squares regression (PLS-R), the study revealed distinct flavor modulation pathways. The addition of OA significantly promoted the generation of methyl-pyrazine and alkyl furans, suggesting that OA oxidation intermediates triggered Strecker degradation with matrix proteins to construct a “lipid-derived aroma profile” backbone. Conversely, DHA specifically enriched unsaturated aldehydes and ketones (e.g., 4-heptenal, (E,E)-2,4-heptadienal) alongside 5-ethyl-2-methyl-pyridine, effectively imparting the characteristic “seafood-like aroma”. Furthermore, spatial separation in PLS-R demonstrated that the CM matrix exhibited a non-additive interaction with lipids:it specifically directed OA oxidation intermediates toward Strecker degradation to construct a lipid-derived aroma backbone, while selectively entrapping highly reactive DHA-derived unsaturated aldehydes to retain a balanced seafood-like profile. The cellular network acted as interactive microenvironments, exhibiting a modulating the release effect on highly reactive secondary oxidation products. This study elucidated the differential volatile generation pathways and controlled-release behaviors between the cellular matrix and specific lipids, providing theoretical insights into the targeted flavor modulation of thermally processed cell-cultured seafood.