Mechanistic Insights into Furan Formation in Maillard Model Systems

• Published in: Journal of agricultural and food chemistry Vol. 59; no. 1; pp. 229 - 235
• Main Authors: Van Lancker, Fien, Adams, An, Owczarek-Fendor, Agnieszka, De Meulenaer, Bruno, De Kimpe, Norbert
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Chemical Society 12.01.2011
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; carcinogenicity; carcinogens; Chemical Aspects of Food Safety; cooked foods; cooking; cooking quality; food analysis; food composition; Food industries; food safety; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; furans; Furans - chemistry; Hot Temperature; Maillard Reaction; mechanical properties; model food systems; Models, Chemical; Protopanaxatriol; Maillard reaction; Furan; CAMOLA; alanine; SPME-GC-MS; model systems; Heat treatment; Alanine; Aminoacid; Models
• ISSN: 0021-8561; 1520-5118
• DOI: 10.1021/jf102929u

Furan has recently received considerable attention as a possibly carcinogenic compound occurring in thermally processed foods. Although several food constituents have been identified as furan precursors, multiple formation pathways remain unclear. Therefore, the mechanisms of furan formation in Maillard model systems were studied by means of the carbon module labeling (CAMOLA) technique. Under both roasting and pressure-cooking conditions, furan was formed from glucose via the intact skeleton, and its formation pathways from glucose alone were not amino acid-dependent. However, some amino acids, especially alanine and serine, did influence the furan production by providing an additional formation pathway. Furthermore, most amino acids enhanced the furan production from glucose. Roasting conditions produced 25−100 times higher amounts of furan as compared to pressure-cooking conditions. Surprisingly, in the alanine/glucose model systems, the relative importance of furan production from glucose alone and from the combination of a glucose-derived and an alanine-derived fragment changed completely over a limited time course of 60 min.