Abstract:The effects of Maillard reaction products on microwave heating characteristics and volatile components of minced Antarctic krill were investigated to improve its heating characteristics and flavor. Dielectric properties (300-3 000 MHz), required energy barriers, and volatile components of lysine and glucose Maillard reaction products (MRPs) were measured at different microwave heating time (1, 3, and 5 min.). The effects of MRPs on the dielectric characteristics, heating characteristics (temperature curve and temperature distribution), surface color, and volatile components of minced Antarctic krill were measured. The results show that: microwave heating reduced the critical frequency of MRPs from 1.6 GHz to 1.2 GHz (5 min), the required energy barrier was (6.73±0.10)×10-21 J, the dielectric constant corresponding to the critical frequency decreases significantly, and the dielectric loss increased significantly. At the frequency of 2 450 MHz, the dielectric loss of minced krill with MRPs increased significantly. The penetration depth did not change significantly, temperature history increased, which could increased the heating rate of minced krill. The MRPs deepened the color of minced krill, and with the microwave heating time increasing, the color difference (ΔE) of minced krill before and after microwave heating decrease. The addition of MRPs increased the aromatic and ester compounds of minced krill by two kinds, and the absolute content increased 12 and 6 times respectively. MRPs could effectively increase the microwave heating rate of minced Antarctic krill and enrich the flavor.