The Maillard reaction in pasta: Preliminary classification by multivariate techniques

Abstract

It is well known that technological and sensory properties of pasta are related to both the characteristics of semolina and to effects of the development of the Maillard reaction which takes place during food processing. The aim of this paper was to investigate the possible application of a multivariate approach to the preliminary classification of pasta products. For this purpose, 18 industrially produced spaghetti samples were chosen. Lysine, leucine, histidine, glycine, available lysine, free reducing sugars, furosine, and red, yellow and brown indices were analysed. Results obtained by application of principal component analysis and cluster analysis showed that some variables (furosine, total lysine and glycine, red index) contributed more than others to the pasta classification. ©1996 Academic Press Limited.