Formation of advanced glycation endproducts in ground beef under pasteurisation conditions

Advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) in food products may pose health risks, and thermal processing of foods accelerates the formation of AGEs. The effects of heat treatments (65–100 °C, 0–60 min) on the formation of AGEs including Nε-carboxymethyllysine (CML) and Nε-carboxyethyllysine (CEL) in ground beef were investigated. The levels of CML and CEL in ground beef steadily increased with heating time and heating temperature. A strong linear relationship (r2 = 0.920) between the amounts of CML (2.76–19.96 mg/kg) and CEL (2.32–11.89 mg/kg) in raw and thermally treated beef was found. The formations of both CML and CEL in ground beef during heat treatments basically fitted zero-order reactions (CML: r2 = 0.851–0.995, rate constant = 0.031–0.224 mg kg−1 min−1; CEL: r2 = 0.907–0.971, rate constant = 0.044–0.118 mg kg−1 min−1) with an activation energy of 61.01 kJ/mol for CML and 29.21 kJ/mol for CEL.