Formation of Maillard Reaction Products during Heat Treatment of Carrots

As indicators of the early stage of the Maillard reaction in carrots, N-(furoylmethyl) amino acids (FMAAs) formed during acid hydrolysis of the corresponding Amadori products were analyzed using RP-HPLC with UV detection. N-epsilon-FM-Lys (furosine), FM-Gly, FM-Ala, FM-Val, FM-Ile, FM-Leu, and FM-GABA were identified using synthesized standard material by means of mass spectrometry. Furthermore, N-epsilon-carboxymethyllysine (CML) and pyrraline were analyzed as indicators for advanced stages of glycation. For commercial samples with high water content, the formation of Amadori compounds predominates, whereas the advanced stage of Maillard reaction plays only a minor part. Carrot juices, baby food, and tinned carrots showed quite low rates of amino acid modification up to 5%. For dehydrated carrots, significantly higher values for Amadori products were measured, corresponding to a lysine derivatization of up to 58% and nearly 100% derivatization of GABA. Drying experiments revealed great differences in reactivity between the amino acids studied. Whereas furosine reached constant values quite quickly, some FMAAs showed a continuous increase with heating time, indicating that selected FMAAs can be used as a hallmark for the early Maillard reaction to control processing conditions.