Changes in the charged metabolite and sugar profiles of pasteurized and unpasteurized Japanese sake with storage

Japanese sake (rice wine) is commonly heat treated (pasteurized) to maintain its quality. In this study, temporal changes in the metabolite profiles of pasteurized and unpasteurized sake were investigated during storage. Metabolomic analyses were conducted for eight sets of pasteurized and unpasteurized sake obtained from single process batches stored at 8 or 20 °C for 0, 1, 2, or 4 months. Capillary electrophoresis time-of-flight mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry were used to obtain charged metabolite and sugar profiles, respectively. The total amino acid concentration decreased with storage, and the decrease was faster in pasteurized sake than in unpasteurized. The organic acid concentrations were relatively constant in both types of sake. Peptide and glucose concentrations increased and polysaccharide concentrations decreased in unpasteurized sake, while they were relatively constant in pasteurized sake. Rather than stabilizing the sake metabolite profile during storage, pasteurization results in characteristic changes compared to unpasteurized sake.