Spices Marination as a Dual Strategy for Flavor Enhancement and Harmful Substances Mitigation in Roasted Chicken

• Pre-marination with spices has a positive impact on balancing both flavor and harmful substances in roasted chicken • Different spices show different effects in improving flavor and inhibiting harmful substances • Hexanal was negatively correlated with most harmful substances Roasted chicken is favored by consumers for its unique flavor characteristics. However, there are also substances in roasted meat potentially hazardous to humans. To balance the flavors and harmful substances in roasted chicken, we propose a scientifically effective strategy: pre-marination with spices. This study investigated the effects of pre-marination with six spices on the aroma, flavor, and harmful substances of roasted chicken. A total of 51 volatiles were detected and identified, including 5 aldehydes, 9 alcohols, 3 ketones, 1 ester, 1 furan, and 32 hydrocarbons. Pre-marinating can improve the sensory scores of roasted chickens by promoting 2-ethyl-2-hexenal, hexanal, 1-hexanol, 2-heptanone, 2-pentyl-furan, nucleotides, umami FAAs, bitter FAAs, and sweet FAAs accumulation. For hazardous compounds, spices showed inhibitory effects on ACY, HAs, and PAHs. For 5-HMF, thyme and black pepper showed inhibitory effects. A total of 223 metabolites were detected in all samples, including organic acids and their derivatives, nucleosides, amino acids, peptides, and organic heterocyclic compounds. The correlation showed that there was a close relationship between volatile compounds and harmful substances, such as hexanal showed a negative correlation with most of the harmful substances. Further, the results provided a theoretical basis for the generation of high-quality and safe roasted meat by using spice treatment, and gave an idea for the selection of spices.