{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,16]],"date-time":"2026-09-16T19:48:53Z","timestamp":1789588133285,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":47,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,17]],"date-time":"2026-07-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1784246400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100012428","name":"Central Public-interest Scientific Institution Basal Research Fund, CAFS","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2023TD78"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2023TD78"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100012428","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100012166","name":"National Key R&D Program of China","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["2023YFD2100200"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2023YFD2100200"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100012166","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Nutr."],"abstract":"<jats:p>Protease hydrolysis for production of oyster juice can greatly increase the nutrients and umami ingredients from oyster, but lacks the unique flavor of traditional oyster sauce. This study evaluated a sequential heating treatment consisting of primary heating at 107\u202f\u00b0C for 6\u202fh followed by secondary heating at 120\u202f\u00b0C for 4\u202fh and investigated the associated flavor-improvement mechanisms by detection of free amino acids and volatile flavor compounds. Compared to the unheated enzymatic juice, the concentrations of amino acid nitrogen and total free amino acids increased progressively after heating and reached their highest levels after secondary heating reaching 0.37\u202fg\/100\u202fg and 3.02\u202fg\/100\u202fg, respectively. The taste activity value of free amino acids in the enzymatic oyster juice was markedly promoted after sequential heating, especially some umami and sweet amino acids such as Glu and Ala. A total of 667 volatile flavor compounds were detected by HS-SPME-GC\u2013MS, and 133 key volatile flavor compounds were screened out by OAV\u202f\u2265\u202f1, mainly including aldehydes, alcohols, ketones, esters, heterocyclic compounds, and terpenoids. The total concentration of key volatile flavor substances in the enzymatic oyster juice increased significantly after two heating processes, rising from 34.30\u202fmg\/kg before heating to 75.51\u202fmg\/kg and then to 118.15\u202fmg\/kg. The odor profile of enzymatic oyster juice showed that the pleasant volatile flavor such as nutty, almond, fruity, green, and sweet odor was significantly enhanced by sequential heating, while the unpleasant volatile flavor such as fishy, earthy, fatty, sulfury, and spicy odor was significantly weakened. Correlation analysis and differential formation pathways showed that these changes were mainly attributed to thermal reaction such as Maillard reaction and Strecker degradation. Sequential heating is an effective method to obviously improve the flavor of enzymatic oyster juice.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fnut.2026.1907081","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,17]],"date-time":"2026-07-17T05:45:37Z","timestamp":1784267137000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Flavor improvement of enzymatic oyster juice by sequential heating through the accumulation of free amino acids and volatile flavor compounds"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Jing","family":"Wang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Biofermentation Technology Enterprise in Flavoring & Food, Foshan Haitian (Gaoming) Flavouring & Food Co., Ltd.","place":["Foshan, China"]},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Aquatic Product Processing, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, National R&D Center for Aquatic Product Processing, South China Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences","place":["Guangzhou, China"]},{"name":"Fisheries College, Jimei University","place":["Xiamen, China"]},{"name":"Foshan Haitian Flavouring & Food Co., Ltd.","place":["Foshan, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tianyu","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Aquatic Product Processing, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, National R&D Center for Aquatic Product Processing, South China Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences","place":["Guangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yanle","family":"Jiang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Fisheries College, Jimei University","place":["Xiamen, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chunsheng","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Aquatic Product Processing, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, National R&D Center for Aquatic Product Processing, South China Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences","place":["Guangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jie","family":"Hou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Biofermentation Technology Enterprise in Flavoring & Food, Foshan Haitian (Gaoming) Flavouring & Food Co., Ltd.","place":["Foshan, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaoqing","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Biofermentation Technology Enterprise in Flavoring & Food, Foshan Haitian (Gaoming) Flavouring & Food Co., Ltd.","place":["Foshan, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"132160","DOI":"10.1016\/j.foodchem.2022.132160","article-title":"The effect of steam cooking on the proteolysis of pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) proteins: digestibility, allergenicity, and bioactivity","volume":"379","author":"Feng","year":"2022","journal-title":"Food Chem"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"110497","DOI":"10.1016\/j.foodhyd.2024.110497","article-title":"Enrichment of surimi gels with water-in-oil emulsions formulated with virgin coconut oil and quercetin-loaded chitosan nanoparticles","volume":"158","author":"Alem\u00e1n","year":"2025","journal-title":"Food Hydrocoll"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"104368","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jfca.2021.104368","article-title":"Characterization of key aroma-active compounds in four commercial oyster sauce by GC\/GC \u00d7 GC\u2013O\u2013MS, AEDA, and OAV","volume":"107","author":"Yu","year":"2021","journal-title":"J Food Compos Anal"},{"key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"105399","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jfca.2023.105399","article-title":"Improving protein utilization and fermentation quality of soy sauce by adding protease","volume":"121","author":"Chen","year":"2023","journal-title":"J Food Compos Anal"},{"key":"ref5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"137881","DOI":"10.1016\/j.foodchem.2023.137881","article-title":"Efficient preparation of oyster hydrolysate with aroma and umami coexistence derived from ultrasonic pretreatment assisted enzymatic hydrolysis","volume":"437","author":"Zhang","year":"2024","journal-title":"Food Chem"},{"key":"ref6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"476","DOI":"10.1016\/j.lwt.2018.06.006","article-title":"Influence of cooking methods on protein modification and in vitro digestibility of hairtail (Thichiurus lepturus) fillets","volume":"96","author":"Semedo Tavares","year":"2018","journal-title":"LWT"},{"key":"ref7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"101154","DOI":"10.1016\/j.fochx.2024.101154","article-title":"Analysis of odor compounds in Lee Kum Kee brand oyster sauce and oyster enzymatic hydrolysate: comparison and relationship","volume":"21","author":"Zhuang","year":"2024","journal-title":"Food Chem X"},{"key":"ref8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"129737","DOI":"10.1016\/j.foodchem.2021.129737","article-title":"Application of UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS\/MS metabolomics approach to investigate the taste and nutrition changes in tilapia fillets treated with different thermal processing methods","volume":"356","author":"Li","year":"2021","journal-title":"Food Chem"},{"key":"ref9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"142066","DOI":"10.1016\/j.foodchem.2024.142066","article-title":"Effect of sous-vide processing duration on flavor and taste variations of oyster (Crassostrea gigas)","volume":"465","author":"Zhang","year":"2025","journal-title":"Food Chem"},{"key":"ref10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1881","DOI":"10.3390\/foods14111881","article-title":"Maillard reaction: mechanism, influencing parameters, advantages, disadvantages, and food industrial applications: a review","volume":"14","author":"El Hosry","year":"2025","journal-title":"Foods"},{"key":"ref11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"140636","DOI":"10.1016\/j.foodchem.2024.140636","article-title":"Identification of key physicochemical properties and volatile flavor compounds for the sensory formation of roasted tilapia","volume":"460","author":"Chen","year":"2024","journal-title":"Food Chem"},{"key":"ref12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2651","DOI":"10.3390\/foods14152651","article-title":"Aroma formation, release, and perception in aquatic products processing: a review","volume":"14","author":"Fan","year":"2025","journal-title":"Foods"},{"key":"ref13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"106326","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jfca.2024.106326","article-title":"Improvement mechanism of umami peptides in oyster juice by cooperative enzymolysis of alcalase and trypsin based on peptidomics and molecular docking","volume":"132","author":"Chen","year":"2024","journal-title":"J Food Compos Anal"},{"key":"ref14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"147360","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijbiomac.2025.147360","article-title":"Intrinsic relationship between structural changes of different types of oyster proteins and flavor release after sous-vide treatment","volume":"327","author":"Zhang","year":"2025","journal-title":"Int J Biol Macromol"},{"key":"ref15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e14774","DOI":"10.1016\/j.heliyon.2023.e14774","article-title":"Sensory attributes and functional properties of maillard reaction products derived from the crassosotrea gigas (Ostrea rivularis gould) enzymatic hydrolysate and xylose system","volume":"9","author":"Wen","year":"2023","journal-title":"Heliyon"},{"key":"ref16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"140433","DOI":"10.1016\/j.foodchem.2024.140433","article-title":"Widely targeted metabolomic analysis reveals metabolite changes induced by incorporating black tea fermentation techniques in oolong tea processing for quality improvement","volume":"459","author":"Hao","year":"2024","journal-title":"Food Chem"},{"key":"ref17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"139239","DOI":"10.1016\/j.foodchem.2024.139239","article-title":"Improvement mechanism of volatile flavor in fermented tilapia surimi by cooperative fermentation of Pediococcus acidilactici and Latilactobacillus sakei: quantization of microbial contribution through influence of genus","volume":"449","author":"Li","year":"2024","journal-title":"Food Chem"},{"key":"ref18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"4376","DOI":"10.3390\/molecules28114376","article-title":"Physicochemical and volatile flavor properties of fish skin under conventional frying, air frying and vacuum frying","volume":"28","author":"Fang","year":"2023","journal-title":"Molecules"},{"key":"ref19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"131689","DOI":"10.1016\/j.foodchem.2021.131689","article-title":"Influence of thermal processing on flavor and sensory profile of sturgeon meat","volume":"374","author":"Li","year":"2022","journal-title":"Food Chem"},{"key":"ref20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"131260","DOI":"10.1016\/j.foodchem.2021.131260","article-title":"Differences in flavor characteristics of frozen surimi products reheated by microwave, water boiling, steaming, and frying","volume":"372","author":"Luo","year":"2022","journal-title":"Food Chem"},{"key":"ref21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"108239","DOI":"10.1016\/j.lwt.2019.06.006","article-title":"Research of beef-meaty aroma compounds from yeast extract using carbon module labeling (CAMOLA) technique","volume":"112","author":"Alim","year":"2019","journal-title":"LWT"},{"key":"ref22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"27","DOI":"10.3390\/molecules27155014","article-title":"Role of lipids in food flavor generation","volume":"27","author":"Shahidi","year":"2022","journal-title":"Molecules"},{"key":"ref23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"100569","DOI":"10.1016\/j.fochx.2023.100569","article-title":"Metabolomics investigation on the volatile and non-volatile composition in enzymatic hydrolysates of Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas)","volume":"17","author":"Liu","year":"2023","journal-title":"Food Chem X"},{"key":"ref24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"973677","DOI":"10.3389\/fnut.2022.973677","article-title":"Insights into flavor and key influencing factors of Maillard reaction products: a recent update","volume":"9","author":"Liu","year":"2022","journal-title":"Front Nutr"},{"key":"ref25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"4475","DOI":"10.3390\/molecules28114475","article-title":"Analysis of volatile compounds and flavor fingerprint using gas chromatography\u2013ion mobility spectrometry (GC-IMS) on Crassostrea gigas with different ploidy and gender","volume":"28","author":"Fu","year":"2023","journal-title":"Molecules"},{"key":"ref26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"115972","DOI":"10.1016\/j.foodres.2025.115972","article-title":"Improvement of the quality and safety of low-salt fish sauce by reconstruction of microbial community through cooperative fermentation of starters","volume":"205","author":"Li","year":"2025","journal-title":"Food Res Int"},{"key":"ref27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"27","DOI":"10.3390\/molecules27196177","article-title":"Comparison of different volatile extraction methods for the identification of fishy off-odor in fish by-products","volume":"27","author":"Zhang","year":"2022","journal-title":"Molecules"},{"key":"ref28","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"98","DOI":"10.3390\/foods10010098","article-title":"Effect of frying conditions on self-heating fried Spanish mackerel quality attributes and flavor characteristics","volume":"10","author":"Chang","year":"2021","journal-title":"Foods"},{"key":"ref29","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"133416","DOI":"10.1016\/j.foodchem.2022.133416","article-title":"Maillard reaction chemistry in formation of critical intermediates and flavour compounds and their antioxidant properties","volume":"393","author":"Shakoor","year":"2022","journal-title":"Food Chem"},{"key":"ref30","volume-title":"Biochemical Composition, Volatile Organic Compounds, Sensory and Consumer Evaluation of Pacific Cupped Oysters during Land-Based Refinement [thesis]","author":"van Houcke","year":"2018"},{"key":"ref31","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2136","DOI":"10.3390\/foods12112136","article-title":"Effect of drying process on the formation of the characteristic flavor of oyster (crassostrea hongkongensis)","volume":"12","author":"Wang","year":"2023","journal-title":"Foods"},{"key":"ref32","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"241","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tifs.2021.03.056","article-title":"Reactions of plant polyphenols in foods: impact of molecular structure","volume":"112","author":"Lund","year":"2021","journal-title":"Trends Food Sci Technol"},{"key":"ref33","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"4529","DOI":"10.3390\/molecules25194529","article-title":"Volatile phenols\u2014important contributors to the aroma of plant-derived foods","volume":"25","author":"Schieber","year":"2020","journal-title":"Molecules"},{"key":"ref34","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"35","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev-food-052720-104513","article-title":"Chemical stability of proteins in foods: oxidation and the maillard reaction","volume":"13","author":"Poojary","year":"2022","journal-title":"Annu Rev Food Sci Technol"},{"key":"ref35","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"127353","DOI":"10.1016\/j.foodchem.2020.127353","article-title":"Optimization of the Maillard reaction of xylose with cysteine for modulating aroma compound formation in fermented tilapia fish head hydrolysate using response surface methodology","volume":"331","author":"Gao","year":"2020","journal-title":"Food Chem"},{"key":"ref36","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"498","DOI":"10.3390\/foods12030498","article-title":"Study on the mechanism of phenylacetaldehyde formation in a Chinese water chestnut-based medium during the steaming process","volume":"12","author":"Lin","year":"2023","journal-title":"Foods"},{"key":"ref37","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"13","DOI":"10.17221\/6568-CJFS","article-title":"Novel Strecker degradation products of tyrosine and dihydroxyphenylalanine","volume":"19","author":"Adamiec","year":"2001","journal-title":"Czech J Food Sci"},{"key":"ref38","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"109975","DOI":"10.1016\/j.foodres.2020.109975","article-title":"Characterizing the volatile compounds of different sorghum cultivars by both GC-MS and HS-GC-IMS","volume":"140","author":"Fan","year":"2021","journal-title":"Food Res Int"},{"key":"ref39","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"5325","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-019-41824-8","article-title":"Analysis of \u03b1-dicarbonyl compounds and volatiles formed in Maillard reaction model systems","volume":"9","author":"Cha","year":"2019","journal-title":"Sci Rep"},{"key":"ref40","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"4332","DOI":"10.1021\/jf9813687","article-title":"Pyrazine formation from serine and threonine","volume":"47","author":"Shu","year":"1999","journal-title":"J Agric Food Chem"},{"key":"ref41","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2671","DOI":"10.3390\/molecules29112671","article-title":"Comparative analysis of the biochemical composition, amino acid, and fatty acid contents of diploid, triploid, and tetraploid Crassostrea gigas","volume":"29","author":"Fu","year":"2024","journal-title":"Molecules"},{"key":"ref42","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"143805","DOI":"10.1016\/j.foodchem.2025.143805","article-title":"Low temperature, high salinity depuration enhances Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) lipid nutrition during anhydrous living-preservation: lipidomic insights based on RPLC\u2013Q-TOF-MS\/MS","volume":"479","author":"Cao","year":"2025","journal-title":"Food Chem"},{"key":"ref43","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"949","DOI":"10.3390\/foods14060949","article-title":"The formation and change of volatile flavor compounds during the cooking of sheep bone soup","volume":"14","author":"Wu","year":"2025","journal-title":"Foods"},{"key":"ref44","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"102320","DOI":"10.1016\/j.fochx.2025.102320","article-title":"Comprehensive quality evaluation for oysters of geographical indication from Rushan in China: characteristic profile of nutrition and flavor components","volume":"26","author":"Huo","year":"2025","journal-title":"Food Chem X"},{"key":"ref45","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"303","DOI":"10.5851\/kosfa.2024.e133","article-title":"Application of animal resources into the Maillard reaction model system to improve meat flavor","volume":"45","author":"Lee","year":"2025","journal-title":"Food Sci Anim Resour"},{"key":"ref46","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"128024","DOI":"10.1016\/j.foodchem.2020.128024","article-title":"Targeted precursor addition to increase baked flavour in a low-acrylamide potato-based matrix","volume":"339","author":"Kocada\u011fl\u0131","year":"2021","journal-title":"Food Chem"},{"key":"ref47","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"247","DOI":"10.3390\/molecules23020247","article-title":"Effect of temperature on flavor compounds and sensory characteristics of Maillard reaction products derived from mushroom hydrolysate","volume":"23","author":"Chen","year":"2018","journal-title":"Molecules"}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Nutrition"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fnut.2026.1907081\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,17]],"date-time":"2026-07-17T05:45:39Z","timestamp":1784267139000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fnut.2026.1907081\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,17]]},"references-count":47,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/fnut.2026.1907081"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fnut.2026.1907081","relation":{},"ISSN":["2296-861X"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2296-861X","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,17]]},"article-number":"1907081"}}