Food Chemistry: a Kazakhstan Perspective on the Maillard Reaction and Acrylamide Formation in Common Foods

The Maillard reaction is largely responsible for the colour, flavour, aroma and texture of fried, baked and roasted foods, including bread, biscuits, breakfast cereals and other foods made from wheat grain, French fries and crisps made from potato and a wide range of other popular foods. However, it also results in the formation of undesirable products, including the neurotoxin and probable carcinogen, acrylamide, and furans. Kazakhstan is a major wheat producer and exports wheat grain to many countries, including countries within the European Union. The European Commission has already issued "indicator levels" for the presence of acrylamide in food products. Although these are not regulatory limits, food producers strive to keep the levels of acrylamide in their products beneath the indicator levels in order to avoid intervention from food safety authorities and the associated bad publicity. Sourcing raw material with low acrylamide forming potential would enable food producers to achieve this without expensive changes to processesand this is likely to be an increasingly important issue for suppliers. This review describes the Maillard reaction, the evolving regulatory scenarios in Europe and the USA and the implications for Kazakhstan as a grain exporter.