Comparative Analysis of Intermediate and Advanced Maillard Reaction Products in Three Types of Commercial Edible Mushroom Products

In recent years, rising consumption of mushroom-based foods has highlighted concerns over the formation of harmful Maillard reaction products (HMRPs) during thermal processing. However, limited information is available on the occurrence of intermediate and advanced HMRPs, such as α-dicarbonyl compounds (α-DCs) and advanced glycation end products (AGEs), in commercial mushroom products. Therefore, this study analyzed AGEs ( N ε -(carboxymethyl)lysine [CML], N ε -(carboxyethyl)lysine [CEL], methylglyoxal-hydroimidazolone 1 [MG-H1], argpyrimidine[Arg-p]) and α-DCs (3-deoxyglucosone [3-DG], glyoxal[GO], methylglyoxal[MGO], diacetyl[DA]) in 60 commercial edible mushroom products, including crisps, ready-to-eat pickled mushrooms, and dried mushrooms. Consequently, the amounts of CML, CEL, MG-H1, and Arg-p spanned 9.26–81.52, 1.08–40.43, 3.76–54.68, and 0.16–0.46 µg/g, respectively. CML was the predominant AGE in three types of mushroom products. Pickled mushrooms contained the highest average levels of CEL and MG-H1(15.89 and 16.18 µg/g, respectively), followed by dried products and mushroom crisps. The CEL and MG-H1 contents of dried mushrooms are comparable to those of crisps, and their CML levels are similar to those of pickled products. 3-DG was the most abundant α-DCs, with concentrations ranging from not detected to 375.66 µg/g. In crisp mushroom ingredients, the presence of maltose greatly promoted the formation of 3-DG, rather than GO or MGO. The variations observed among the three product types suggest that processing methods and ingredients have a significant influence on the formation of HMRPs. This study provides fundamental data for optimizing processing conditions to improve the quality and safety of processed mushroom products.