Abstract/Summary

The Maillard reaction is one of the most important chemical reactions occurring during thermal processing of food. It is well characterised in simple binary glucose/amino acids model systems, but the complexity of a real food matrix introduces many reactions and interactions which are not fully understood. In this work, a series of experiments was conducted to evaluate the impact of a background recipe of meat-based components on the Maillard reaction. This study compared the reactivity of different glucose/amino acid systems, and showed how the formation of important aroma compounds, like pyrazines and pyrroles, was affected by the presence of a meat-based matrix. The greatest effects were observed in the glutamine-containing samples.