Quantification of furosine and hydroxymethylfurfural in Spanish powdered infant formulas (IFs)

Abstract

The manufacture of infant formulas (IFs) includes different steps such as blending of components, homogenisation, pasteurization, spray-drying and storage that have a great influence in their final quality. In processes involving heat, reactions and/or interactions between constituents can give rise to a loss of nutritive value being this very important because IFs sometimes are the only source of infant nutrition during the first months of life. Maillard reaction (MR) is one of the main reactions causing deterioration of proteins during processing or storage of foods. Because IFs may contain high level of carbohydrates and proteins, MR plays an important role during elaboration from the point of view of losses of nutritive value. MR is a very complex reaction that covers a whole range of transformations that produces a large number of the so-called MR products. Different compounds have been selected as indicators of different stages of MR being the furosine (2-furoylmethyl lysine) one the most used, in processed foods as an index of early stages of MR. Besides, hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) has been used as indicator of advanced stages as a result of excessive heating or storage.