Determination of the PAH contamination levels caused by the fuel and the oven types on the breads during cooking

US EPA's priority pollutant polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) levels were determined in breads. Effects of types of cooking ovens like commercial bakery ones, domestic ovens and village type (home-made) ovens and cooking fuels, namely, coal, wood, natural gas and electricity were investigated. Traditional procedure was used to prepare the uncooked breads in laboratory conditions in order to prevent the PAHs contributions from the water, salt, flour and yeast. Samples carried to the bakeries and cooked with bakeries' routine procedures. After cooking process, ash and/or dust residues on the ovens' cooking area were also collected to determine the contributions from these residues which are in contact with the bread during cooking. The analyses of samples were carried out by using HPLC/FLD (fluorescence detector) in order to achieve lower detection limits due to the higher sensitivity of the fluorescence detectors. Results from DAD (UV) detector has also been collected in parallel during analyses. According to the results the high molecular weight PAH levels were very low that can not be a threat for human health, however, the light weight PAH compounds were observed in higher concentrations when compared to heavy molecular weight PAHs.