Maillard reaction evaluation by furosine determination during infant cereal processing

The furosine content of infant cereals has been used to evaluate the thermal damage caused to those foods during their manufacture (toasting, amylolysis and drying steps). The mean furosine contents of raw and toasted flours were 13.7 and 13.8 mg/100 g of protein, respectively. The furosine content increased to 47.3 mg/100 g of protein after hydrolysis using alpha-amylase. The amylolysis process raised the reducing sugar content from 0.5% for raw samples to 12.7%. The furosine content of infant cereals rose to average levels of 500 mg/100 g of protein after roller-drying. The infant cereals with the highest levels of reducing sugars, with or without soy flour, exhibited the highest furosine contents. Furosine is a useful indicator to evaluate the progress of the Maillard reaction during the amylolysis and roller-drying stages of infant cereals manufacture. (C) 1999 Academic Press.