Preparation and characterisation of novelty food preservatives by Maillard reaction between ε‐polylysine and reducing sugars

Summary In order to enhance the application scope and usage effect of ε‐polylysine, it was modified by Maillard reaction through endowing antioxidant activity. Characterisations of different type of reaction systems were investigated. Results showed that with increased heating treatment time at constant 90 °C and UV‐Vis absorbance at 294 and 420 nm, fluorescence intensity of modified products were increased. DPPH radical scavenging activity of modified products from D‐glucose (D‐Glc), D‐fructose (D‐Fru) and D‐xylose (D‐Xyl) was increased to 40.5%, 44.0% and 69.4%, and the reducing power was increased to 0.9, 1.0 and 1.3 respectively ( P < 0.05). Moreover, compared with ε‐polylysin, three types of modified products have similar antibacterial property. In addition, three types of modified products showed low cytotoxicity against the cultured human HepG2 cells in vitro . Therefore, the modified products derived from ε‐polylysine model could be used as potential food preservatives.