Assessing the Maillard reaction development during the toasting process of common flours employed by the cereal products industry

The present paper aimed to study the development of the Maillard reaction during the drying-toasting step of different flours usually employed for the formulation of cereal-based products. The results state the idea that a great part of hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and furfural found in cereal-based products are supplied by the rest of the ingredients composing these foods and not from the toasting of the flours employed. Moreover, a high furfural generation was associated to the fibre-enrichment of whole wheat flour. Glucosylisomaltol (GIM) measurement could be established as a useful indicator for controlling the manufacture conditions of cereal-based products, if significant amounts of maltose are present. Furosine determination is suitable for flours with either low or high reactivity due to its inherent sensibility to thermal treatment but, in extremely reactive flours like soybean, HMF shows better application. Finally, the Delta E parameter resulted in a reliable measurement of the visible colour production for the toasting step of the flours studied. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.