The amounts of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in doner,Adana kebab and pide and factors affecting their formations

PAHs are environmental pollutants formed during the combustion of organic carbonaceous materials with little oxygen at high temperature. PAH compounds are dangerous for humans, animals and plants due to their mutagenic and carcinogenic effects. These mutagenic/carcinogenic compounds can be formed in the structures of foods as a result of exposure to high temperatures at close range. In this thesis, the amounts of PAHs in doner kebabs, Adana kebab (spicy and non-spicy) and pide's produced from meat and chicken sold in Kastamonu province were determined and the factors affecting these amounts (sample type, cooking method and fat ratio) were examined. Total PAH mean, minimum and maximum levels of all samples were determined to be 118.00, 16.75 and 967.66 µg/kg, respectively. In our study, the BaP and PAH4 concentrations of no samples did not exceed the relevant limits in the Turkish Food Codex Contaminants Regulation. The spicy Adana kebab (Urfa) among the sample types, had the highest group average in terms of carcinogen PAH compounds BaP and PAH4. It was determined that the highest PAH compound concentrations and total PAH contents were obtained with the charcoal barbecue cooking technique. The cooking technique using the vertical gas cooker resulted in the lowest overall PAH compound concentrations and total PAH content concentrations. When we grouped the samples according to their oil content, 4 groups were obtained as low oily, medium oily, oily and very oily, and because of the samples using barbecue cooking technique were in the oily group, the oily group was found to be the group containing the highest total PAH. Although the BaP and PAH4 content of none of the samples in the study exceeded the legal limits, excessive and frequent consumption of these foods may pose a health risk due to the detection of carcinogenic PAH types in these foods.