You come up with a potato chip product that you think is great, but after testing via a sensory panel, it is determined that consumers find that the color of the chip after frying is too dark. With your Rutgers education finally paying off, you proudly inform your team that this is a case of the Maillard browning reaction gone too far.
a. Nagging Nancy, a co-worker from the marketing team determined to help with her minor in biological sciences, is convinced that the Maillard browning reaction cannot be responsible for the dark color. She says that while non-enzymatic browning requires a reducing sugar and an amino acid, your fried potato chip does not taste sweet, so the reaction cannot occur to any significant extent. What do you tell her?
b. From your conversation with Nancy, you get an idea: you decide that the best approach to reduce browning is removing the sugar. What enzyme can you incorporate into the processing of the product, and why would this reduce the browning?
