The fluorescence of 10% salt extracts of dried eggs is currently used as a simple criterion of palatability. This fluorescence, the source of which has not been recognized, appears to be due to the brown reaction products of glucose and the free amino groups of proteins. Similar fluorescing brown products also result from the interaction of simple amines and aldehydes. These can be used as model systems for the study of the glucose-protein reaction. DURING the past few years it has become increasingly apparent that the brown color which develops in food products during storage is in part the result of a condensation of reducing sugars with proteins and protein hydrolytic products. Ramsey, Tracy, and Ruehe (18) attributed the darkening of condensed milk sweetened with dextrose to sugar-protein condensation products. Balls and Swenson (3) suggested that the decelerated darkening of trypsin-treated unfermented egg white might be due to a similar reaction. Fermented egg white which contains no glucose does not darken on storage. Stewart and Kline (31) and Stewart, Best, and Lowe (30) studied the effect of glucose concentration, temperature, pH, and moisture content on the changes in properties of egg white and spray-dried eggs. Darkening was favored by increased concentrations of glucose, high temperature, alkaline reaction, and moisture contents higher than 5%. Weast and Mackinney (38) demonstrated that the darkening of apricots and other fruit products is due in part to the reaction of reducing sugars and amino acids.