Bioactive peptide-enriched deer meat sauce: a novel functional food innovation

The development of functional soy sauce-like condiments using wild game (deer meat) represents a new approach to enhancing the value of underutilized resources. This study develops an ultra-short-term fermented meat sauce from deer meat using high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) treatment within 26 h. The study also aimed to evaluate its functionality, particularly angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity and bioactive peptide composition, and to assess its bioactivity in nematodes. The HHP-treated deer meat sauce was compared with conventional soy sauce to explore its potential health benefits. The results demonstrated that the HHP-treated sauce significantly increased the concentrations of bioactive imidazole peptides, especially anserine and carnosine. Additionally, a dipeptide with antihypertensive properties was newly identified in the HHP-treated deer meat sauce through LC-MS analysis. The ACE inhibitory activity of the deer meat sauce was eight times higher than that of conventional soy-sauce, indicating potential antihypertensive effects. Furthermore, nematodes (<italic>Caenorhabditis elegans</italic>) fed with the HHP-treated deer meat sauce exhibited notable bioactivity. These findings suggest that HHP-treated deer meat sauce can serve as a functional food ingredient for health promotion and fatigue reduction.