Determination of organic cancerogen compounds in foodstuffs cooked at high temperatures by HPLC-MS

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) are compounds formed by binding of two or more benzen rings at high temperatures.In this study, the factors including flowing rate of mobile phase, injection volume, colomn temperature and fragmenter potential were optimised to quantitative analyse of anthracene, benzo[a]anthracene, benzo[a]pyrene and pyrene by HPLC-MS. The optimised conditions were applied to determination of the compounds mentioned above in foodstuff such as grills cooked at high temperatures. Various grills and similar samples were prepared by applying four different extraction methods. From the obtained results, concentrations of the studied PAH compounds in grills prepared in resturants for consumption and other studied samples are dependent on the cooked materials, and their concentrations were observed to be under 10 ppb. The obtained PAH concentrations (as ppb) in grill samples which extremely cooked were found to be 156 for anthracene, 115 for benzo[a]anthracene, 140 for benzo[a]pyrene and 166 for pyrene, depending on both meat species and cooking source. According to these data, there isn?t any risk in point of the compounds anthracene, benzo[a]anthracene, benzo[a]pyrene and pyrene in the studied foodstuff.Keywords: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, Anthracene, Benzo[a]anthracene, Benzo[a]pyrene, Pyrene, Solid-Phase Extraction (SPE), HPLC-MS.