Study of the Maillard reaction in model systems under conditions related to the industrial process of pasta thermal VHT treatment

Non‐enzymatic browning (NEB) due to the Maillard reaction (MR) was studied in a closed starch/glucose/lysine model system (20 g kg⁻¹ glucose, 10 g kg⁻¹ lysine) in order to analyse conditions favouring reactivity during an industrial process of pasta VHT (very high temperature) thermal treatment. The closed model pastes gave data on the NEB progress during the pasta drying cycle as a function of temperature, time and water activity (a_w). Indicators such as headspace CO ₂ , optical density and colour showed an increase of MR as the initial a_w increased from 0.50 to 0.91. During the initial stages of drying, a combination of high temperatures and high a_w led to the most likely conditions for NEB. © 1999 Society of Chemical Industry