Impact of different cooking methods on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in rabbit meat

The influence of a variety of cooking methods (poaching, boiling, grilling (charcoal or gas)), frying (pan, deep frying, and stir frying) with a variety of oils (vegetable oil, extra virgin olive oil, sesame oil, extra light olive oil, and sunflower oil), microwaving, and oven roasting on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) formation in rabbit meat samples was investigated. Meat samples (including three replicates) were prepared without additives or spices. PAHs extraction was carried out by saponification method with potassium hydroxide in methanol which was followed by a silica gel column technique and the samples were quantified by using gas chromatography with mass spectrometry (GC-MS). PAHs standards, fluorene, naphthalene, anthracene, phenanthrene, pyrene, acenaphthalene, fluoranthene, and benzopyrene, were used for this study. The other PAHs except fluorene were not observed (detection limit-0.009 mu g/g) in all the samples. Among traditional processing techniques, higher PAH contents were observed as a result of frying. Frying with vegetable oil produced higher fluorene content (0.06-0.13 mu g/g) in the deep-fried sample, although sesame oil is the best oil which produces lowest PAH contents in fried samples. Among all the processing techniques, lower fluorene (0.01-0.02 mu g/g) content was noticed in poaching. Benzo(a)pyrene was not observed in all the investigated samples which is viewed as a reliable strategy of the cooking process for human consumption. After processing, the cooking loss was determined and oven roasting and grilling exhibited greater moisture loss.

Automated summary

The study investigated the impact of various cooking methods and oils on the formation of PAHs in rabbit meat samples. It was found that frying with vegetable oil resulted in higher fluorene content, while poaching had the lowest PAH levels. Benzo(a)pyrene was not detected in any of the samples, indicating a safe cooking strategy.