The Interaction of Lipid-Derived Aldehydes with the Maillard Reaction in Meat Systems

The presence of lipids in foods, especially phospholipids, provides an extra source of reactants which can participate in the complex series of reactions that comprise the Maillard reaction. A number of volatile compounds that derive from lipid-Maillard interactions have been found in model reaction systems and in foods. In recent research a series of thiazoles and thiazolines, with long-chain alkyl substituents, have been isolated from pressure cooked beef. Studies, using model systems, demonstrated that these compounds arose from the reaction between aldehydes, produced in lipid oxidation, and simple dicarbonyls, ammonia and hydrogen sulfide, which are the intermediates in Maillard reactions involving cysteine.