Incidence of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Portuguese Traditional Dry Smoked Meat Products Manufactured at Home for Self-Consumption and by Micro Industrial Plants

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) concentration in dry meat products is a priority safety requirement, mainly in those processed under the traditional smoking procedure. In order to investigate the levels occurred in traditional dry fermented sausages manufactured by regional home producers, samples were collected in region of Central-East part of Portugal for comparison with those from one micro industrial plant situated in the same geographical area. In the former products, mean total PAHs level (1364.0 mu g/kg) almost doubled that of industrial counterparts (750 mu g/kg) with PAH(8) representing 2.9 and 1.65% of those total contaminations, respectively. In both product groups, BaA and CHR were the most concentrated compounds within the PAH8 indicator (15.39 mu g/kg and 13.66 mu g/kg vs 5.67 mu g/kg and 5.15 mu g/kg). In home made products the BaP concentration surpassed the limit value of 5.0 mu g/kg in 31.3% of the samples, with 3 of these cases more than doubling that amount. In addition, more than 93% of samples showed a BaP contamination higher than 1.0 mu g/kg. By the contrary, among products processed under the industrial conditions that limit was never surpassed and 81.3% of the samples presented a BaP level lower than 1.0 mu g/kg.

Automated summary

The concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in dry meat products, especially those processed traditionally under smoking procedures, is a critical safety requirement. This study compared the PAH levels in traditional dry fermented sausages made by regional home producers with those from a micro industrial plant in the same geographical area in Central-East Portugal. The mean total PAH level in the former products (1364.0 μg/kg) was almost double that of the industrial counterparts (750 μg/kg), with PAH(8) representing 2.9% and 1.65% of the total contaminations, respectively. In both groups, BaA and CHR were the most concentrated compounds within the PAH8 indicator. The BaP concentration in home made products exceeded the limit value in 31.3% of the samples, with 3 of these cases exceeding twice that amount. Moreover, over 93% of the samples showed a BaP contamination higher than 1.0 μg/kg. On the contrary, among products processed under industrial conditions, the limit was never surpassed and 81.3% of the samples had a BaP level lower than 1.0 μg/kg.