Maillard Reactions – An Important Factor of the Safety and Quality of Infant Formula

Abstract

The physicochemical properties of infant adapted milk formulae that affect their tolerability and effectiveness depend on the composition and quality of the raw ingredients, the production process, the storage conditions and the quality control of the finished products. The technology of manufacturing a powdered infant formula includes a variety of methodsfor processing componentsthat make up its composition, including raw milk. This processing is accompanied by a noticeable change in a number of physical, chemical and biological properties of the individual components of milk, their loss, the formation of fundamentally new chemical compounds. The most frequent reactions observed during the heat treatment of milk include the formation of bonds between reactive carbonyl groups of the sugar and the amino groups of amino acids, followed by the appearance of a large number of low- and high-molecular compounds, the so-called Maillard Reaction Products(MRP). The study of MRP in recent years hasincreasingly attracted the attention of medical practitioners because of the discovery of these compounds in infant formula and their potential danger to children’s health. This review provides evidence that powdered infant adapted formulae produced with an original technology based on whole goat milk with a native ratio of the main groups of milk proteins(whey – 20% and casein – 80%) have a minimum potential for unwanted effects associated with MRP.