A rapid high performance liquid chromatographic detection of furosine (?-N-2-furoylmethyl-L-lysine) in pasteurized and UHT milks

Furosine, generated from the acid hydrolysis of the amadori compound during the early Maillard reaction, is a suitable indicator of the effect of heating treatments on milk quality. Furosine content in pasteurized and UHT milks marketed in Turkey was detected using ion-pair reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). Calibration study (R2 = 0.9999), analytical method validation and recovery studies (y = 5.315 x + 0.043 (R2 = 0.9998)) gave satisfactory results A wide range of furosine content was found in UHT milks (49.68 ± 0.10 to 213.38 ± 0.07 mg 100 g-1 protein) depending on the heat-treatment intensity. Pasteurized milks had lower content of furosine (3.79 ± 0.01 and 5.88 ± 0.02 mg 100 g -1 protein). The method provides rapid, reproducible and accurate determination of this amadori compound in milk and dairy products and can be utilized as one of the most commonly used quality marker in dairy industry.