Flavor Development in a Meat-Based Petfood Containing Added Glucose and Glycine

Glucose and glycine, as reactive precursors of the Maillard reaction, are important for the generation of flavour in many cooked foods. Although there have been many studies on generation of flavor in aqueous model systems, such systems are not always representative of real food products. In this study, glucose and glycine were systematically added to a complete petfood recipe and the changes in volatile profile gave a clear indication of the limiting precursors for the formation of 2-furfural, 2,5-dimethylpyrazine and trimethylpyrazine. Use of C-13(6) labeled glucose on a smaller scale confirmed many of the findings, and the principal formation pathways for each of these volatiles were established.