Abstract/Summary

Heterocyclic amines (HCAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) formed during meat processing may pose health risk to the public. This project aimed to investigate the occurrence of HCAs and PAHs in highly consumed cooked meat products including ready-to-eat (RTE) meat, patties and meatballs, and their health risk was also assessed according to the dietary pattern. Different strategies including replacing fat with vegetable oils and adding spices were applied in order to reduce the formation of HCAs and PAHs in final meat products. In addition, inhibitory mechanism of antioxidants in oil and spices on the formation of HCAs and PAHs in meat system were also discussed. In this work, HCAs and PAHs were extracted by solid-phase extraction and analysed by HPLC- Diode array UV/ Fluorescence detector. For RTE meat in UK, chargrilled chicken had the highest level of HCAs (37.45±4.89ng/g) and PAHs (3.11±0.49ng/g), followed by roasted bacon (HCAs 15.24±1.31ng/g, PAHs 1.75±0.17ng/g) in selected RTE meat products. Increase intake of chargrilled chicken and ham could increase breast cancer and colorectal adenoma risk, but other types of meat had relatively lower health risk. Replacing pork back fat with vegetable oils including sunflower oil, olive oil and grape seed oil could not only improve fatty acids profile in cooked meat products, but also reduce HCAs, which could be attributed to the existence of tocopherols and polyphenol compounds in the vegetable oils. However, antioxidants in the oils could not reduce the total amount of PAHs effectively, while the complexity of oil decomposition and antioxidants performance at high temperature could partially explain the case. All 6 spices powder including garlic, onion, red chilli, paprika, black pepper and ginger reduced the formation of total HCAs, while ginger powder achieved the highest inhibition efficiency compared with all other spices. Antioxidant capacity of spices determined their efficiency in prohibiting formation of HCAs and PAHs in great extent, while meat type only affected the formation of HCAs (p<0.05), but not PAHs (p>0.05). Regression model suggested that both diallyl disulfide and gallic acid contributed similar inhibitory efficiency on the formation of HCAs and PAHs. Synergistic effect between diallyl disulfide and gallic acid was observed on reducing HCAs (p<0.05), but not on PAHs (p>0.05).