Monitoring selected quality indicators of powdered infant milk formulas

This work was addressed to monitor some quality indicators content in commercial powdered infant milk formulas. Furosine, furfural com-pounds, vitamins (B1, B2, B6 and C) were determined in starting and follow-up infant milk formulas. Contents of furosine, total and free furfural compounds, and B group vitamins were assayed by RP-HPLC with UV detection. The contents of furfural (F), free and total hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) in the starting infant milks were lower than in the follow-up formulas, whereas free and total F contents were not detectable in the starting formulas. The content of free and total F in follow-up formulas ranged from 0.77 to 1.86 mcmol/100 g and from 2.70 to 7.08 mcmol/100 g, respectively. Free and total HMF contents in starting milks ranged from 1.22 to 1.47 mcmol/100g and from 5.79 to 8.34 mcmol/100 g, respectively. The content of free and total HMF in follow-up milks ranged from 2.11 to 8.20 mcmol/100g and from 19.86 to 84.89 mcmol/100g, respectively. Similarly, the furosine content in starting infant milks (ranged from 53.47 to 57.57 mg/100g) was lower than in the follow-up infant milks (ranging from 70.94 to 96.14 mg/100g). There were higher levels of B group vitamins in the follow-up milk than in the starting infant samples. The content of vitamin C was higher in starting formulas then in the follow-up formulas. These values indicated that there was no significant difference between the results obtained and the labelled levels. These results show that the type and contents of proteins and carbohydrates in commercial powdered infant milk formulas (starting milk, follow-up milk) play an important role in the course of the Maillard reaction