slight increases in fluorescence at the lower temperatures.
The fluorescence increase indicates the formation of
brown pigment precursors characteristic of Maillard
browning (Overby & Frost, 1952). The greater fluorescent
changes at high temperatures would be expected as
temperature accelerates the Maillard reaction (Saltmarch
& Labuza, 1982). EC and EGCG at a 0.1 mmol concentration
reduced the intensity increase for Maillard fluorescence
for up to 150 days storage as compared to the control
samples at all temperatures. Milk samples with 1.0 mmol
EC or EGCG on the other hand decreased fluorescence
(after an initial rise) or had minimal change in the level of
Maillard fluorescence at all temperatures. Thus at the
1.0 mmol/l concentration, these green tea extracts, which
are antioxidants, are inhibiting Maillard browning as was
suggested by both O’Connell and Fox (1999) and Colahan-
Sederstrom and Peterson (2005). This should be valuable
for improvement of acceptability of stored UHT processed
milk.