During the industrial preparation and the storage of foods, the side chain of some protein-bound amino acids can react chemically each other or with other molecules present in the food. The following reactions have been described : destruction of amino acids, racemization, protein-protein interactions, reactions of proteins with reducing sugars, oxidizing agents, or polyphenols. Apart from total destruction, the main reacitons are the forming of Maillard reactions products(e.g. fructoselysine) and the crosslinking with other amino acids in the same or in another protein molecule(e.g. lysinoalanine). The most often involved amino acid is lysine because of its free functional ${varepsilon}-amino$ acid group. Generally derivatives of amino acids or crosslinks in polypeptides influence the bioavailability and the overall digestibility of the protein. This work reviews the technological, analytical, nutritional, and physiological problems related to the formation of fructoselysine and lysinolalnine in human foods, and evaluates the possible health risk for humans. A summary of the available information is of help in considering whether or not the presence of fructoselysine/lysinoalanine in foods represents a danger to man. The reduction in protein quality through these reactions is not a problem for the general population, but it is extremely important in infant foods, since infants are often nourished with a limited number of food product(e.g. formular foods) which are sensitive to the Mailard reaction.