Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in traditionally smoked Slavonska kobasica

The Content of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Slavonska slanina—Traditionally Smoked and Dry-Cured Bacon

The goal of this study was to determine the concentrations of 16 PAHs (PAH16) naphthalene—Nap, acenaphthylene—Anl, acenaphthene—Ane, fluorene—Flu, phenanthrene—Phen, anthracene—Ant, fluoranthene—Flt, pyrene—Pyr, benz[a]anthracene—BaA, chrysene—Chry, benzo[b]fluoranthene—BbF, benzo[k]fluoranthene—BkF, benzo[a]pyrene—BaP, indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene—InP, dibenz[a,h]anthracene—DahA and benzo[g,h,i]perylene—BghiP) in Slavonska slanina traditionally smoked bacon over open fire and industrially smoked on a smoke generator with a heated plate. In the samples of Slavoska slanina smoked in a traditional manner, the presence of 11 out of 16 analyzed PAHs was determined (Nap, Anl, Ane, Fln, Ant, Phen, Flt, BaA, Pyr, BbF, BkF). In the samples smoked in industrial conditions, only 2 out of 16 (Nap, Anl) were quantified. In the samples smoked with open fire (the traditional method), PAH4 (BaA, BaP BbF, Chry) concentations were as follows: 14.84 μg kg−1 in the middle, 10.60 μg kg−1 on the surface and 17.37 μg kg−1 in the skin, while the PAH4 content in the samples smoked in industrial conditions were below the level of quantification (<LOQ). The content of carcinogenic BaP was below the limit of quantification in all investigated samples. These findings support the fact that traditional smoking may result in a product safe for consumption, as far as the prescribed legislative recommendations are concerned, but constant monitoring is still needed.

Chemical hazards in smoked meat and fish

This review aims to give an insight into the main hazards currently found in smoked meat and fish products. Literature research was carried out on international databases such as Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture (AGORA) database, Science direct, and Google scholar to collect and select 92 relevant publications included in this review. The smoking process was described and five hazards mostly found in smoked fish and meat were presented. The heat-induced compounds such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, heterocyclic amines, and nitrosamines were found in smoked fish and meat. Other hazards such as biogenic amines and heavy metals were also present in smoked fish and meat. The levels of these hazards reported from the literature exceeded the maximal limits of European Union. A brief description of risk assessment methodology applicable to such toxic compounds and risk assessment examples was also presented in this review. As most of the hazards reported in this review are toxic and even carcinogenic to humans, actions should be addressed to reduce their presence in food to protect consumer health and to prevent public health issue.

Influence of Different Smoking Procedures on Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Formation in Traditional Dry Sausage Hercegovačka kobasica

The concentrations of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in smoked dry sausage Hercegovačka kobasica were investigated. The sausages were stuffed in two different casings (collagen and natural) and smoked in traditional and industrial smokehouses. The highest concentration of PAH 16 were detected in sausages in natural casings smoked in the traditional manner. The samples smoked in the industrial chamber stuffed in collagen casing showed the lowest PAH 16 content. The content of PAH 4 in sausage smoked in the traditional way and stuffed in natural casing averaged 24.46 µg/kg, which is more the double of maximum prescribed concentration of 12 µg/kg. The concentration of cancerogenic benzo[a]pyrene averaged 7.79 µg/kg in sausage stuffed in natural casing and smoked in the traditional way, which is almost four times the legislative prescribed values (2 µg/kg). Sausage smoked in the traditional manner and stuffed in collagen casing showed lower values for PAH 4 (13.88 µg/kg) and benzo[a]pyrene (4.97 µg/kg), but these values were also above the legislative prescribed values.

Analysis of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Heregovački pršut-Traditionally Smoked Prosciutto

Hercegovački pršut as a traditional dry-cured smoked ham (prosciutto) produced by using an open fire that can be potentially contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and can pose a health risk for consumers. The aim of this research was to identify the types and concentrations of 16 PAHs in 34 samples of traditionally smoked prosciutto. Out of 16 investigated PAHs, identified in the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) list of priority pollutants, 14 compounds were detected. Average levels of cancerogenic benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) and PAH4 (benzo[a]anthracene (BaA), benzo[b]fluoranthene (BbF), chrysene (Chry), and benzo[a]pyrene (BaP)) ranged from <LOQ (level of quantification) to 5.08 μg/kg and 0.45 μg/kg to 22.67 μg/kg. Two analyzed samples exceeded currently prescribed values according to the Bosnia and Herzegovina legislation for BaP concentrations and one sample for PAH4 content. PAH16 concentrations were on average between 2.92 μg/kg and 87.6 μg/kg. The highest PAH concentrations were found in samples from the Herzegovina-Neretva canton. The results of the research highlight the importance of standardizing smoking procedures and manufacturing practice, in the production of Hercegovački pršut, in order to reduce the PAH content.

Insight about methods used for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons reduction in smoked or grilled fishery and meat products for future re-engineering: A systematic review

This paper presents methods of reduction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in grilled or smoked meat and fishery products. Using keywords such as "smoking", "grilling", "processing", "roasting", "barbecue", "curing", "reduction", "decrease", "polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon", "benzo(a)pyrene", "removal", 1191 references were collected from databases. After sorting, only 37 appeared to be relevant to the topic of the review. These 37 papers were coded with one or two keywords representing methods of PAHs reduction using R-based Qualitative Data Analysis library. The results showed that PAHs reduction strategies can be applied either before (or during) grilling or smoking (barrier methods) or after grilling or smoking (removal methods). Before grilling or smoking, use of marinade, preheating of products, appropriate fuel (poor in lignin), filter, collection system of juice and fat (to avoid them dripping into embers) are the main strategies which can be applied. After grilling or smoking, the methods consist of washing the surface of smoked or grilled products with hot water (60 °C) or storing smoked products packed into low density or high density polyethylene. A flowchart regrouping methods which can be used individually or in combination for PAHs reduction in smoked meat and fishery products is suggested.