Fluorescent compounds and Maillard Reaction in home cooked bovine meat

• Grant number: 13/06221-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2013
• End date: April 30, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Food Science and Technology - Food Science
• Principal Investigator: Deborah Helena Markowicz Bastos
• Grantee: Daniele de Almeida Lima
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Saúde Pública (FSP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Maillard reaction (MR) is nonenzymatic browning that occurs in foods and living organisms between the carbonyl group of reducing sugars and amino group of proteins. The reaction forms compounds that are responsible for the transformations of flavor, color, taste, and texture of foods submitted to thermic processing. These transformations are determinants for consumer choice. However, harmful compounds can be generated during the MR, like acrolein, acrylamide, heterocyclic aromatic amines. The final stages of MR, in foods and living organisms (glycation), lead to the formation of advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) that have been related to the development and emergence of various diseases like diabetes, renal failure, and atherosclerosis. Consumption of fried or highly processed foods, like fast foods, has increased in the last decades and has been a concern of the scientific community about harmful effects caused by the Maillard reaction products (MRP). MR also generates fluorescent compounds that are considered important markers of MR. The extent of the Maillard reaction can be established through methods of absorbance. This study proposes to indicate the influence of some types of thermic processing, employed during home cooking of bovine meat, in the progressivity of Maillard reaction, contributing to the estimation of the most appropriate types of processing to minimize the harmful effects on the population, particularly the most vulnerable who have diseases resulting from glycation. (AU)