Detection of Chemical Hazards 473ent woods after specifi c pyrolisis conditions
and extraction protocols. In addition to
forming part of smoke fl avorings, these
primary products can be used as such in
foods. Smoke fl avorings have a wide vari-
ability of compounds, including polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons (Jennings 1990 ;
Maga 1987 ). The toxicological effects of
smoke fl avorings can vary signifi cantly
among preparations because these effects
depend on many factors, such as the produc-
tion process of the primary products, the
qualitative and quantitative composition, the
concentration used in the fl avoring, and
the fi nal use levels (SCF 1995 ). Recently, the
application of smoke - fl avored primary prod-
ucts has been controlled in the European
Union through the Council Regulation
2065/2003 on smoke fl avorings used or
intended for use in or on foods. Under this
regulation, the use of a primary product in
and on foods will be authorized only if it has
been suffi ciently demonstrated that it does
not present risks to human health. The
European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is
in charge of issuing a list of primary products
allowed for use as such in/or on food and/or
for the production of derived smoke fl avor-
ings. Studies on subchronic toxicity and
genotoxicity must be performed to evaluate
the potential toxicological effects of the
primary products used for smoke fl avoring.
Regulation 627/2006 implements
Regulation 2065/2003 regarding quality
criteria for validated analytical methods for
sampling, identifi cation, and characterization
of primary smoke products (E. C. 2006 ). The
detection of PAH compounds can be per-
formed with gas chromatography, coupled
with a fl ame ionization detector or high -
performance liquid chromatography coupled
with ultraviolet or fl uorescence detectors.
The identifi cation and confi rmation of PAH
may be performed by using mass spectrom-
etry detectors coupled with either gas chro-
matography or HPLC chromatography. The
description of methods of analysis for theitems in 23 countries was recently created
(Jakszyn et al. 2004 ). Formaldehyde has been
identifi ed as promoting cancerous tumors.
Some smoke phenols could react to form
highly toxic nitrosophenols that could further
react to form toxic reaction products, such as
nitrophenols, polymeric nitrosic compounds,
and other toxic compounds, or even catalyze
the formation of nitrosamines (Bem 1995 ).
The worst situations are found in heavily
smoked meat products with old or inadequate
smokehouses where the PAH levels could
reach amounts near 100 μ g/kg (Simko 2009a ).
In any case, the content in PAH is highly
variable because it depends on many vari-
ables, including the use of direct or indirect
smoking, the type of generator used, the type
and composition of wood and herbs, the
accessibility to oxygen, and the temperature
and time of the process. When technology is
correctly applied, the PAH content is below
1 μ g/kg. Benzo - a - pyrene (BaP) is being used
as an indicator of the presence of PAH in
the meat. In fact, the EC Regulation limited
its amount to 5 μ g/kg in meat and meat
products.
Some alternative processes have been
designed to reduce the contamination of the
smoked meat products with hazardous com-
pounds. Some of these strategies that can
reduce signifi cantly the PAH content in
smoked meat products consist of the fi ltration
of particles, the use of cooling traps, lower
temperatures, and/or reducing the duration of
the process. Alternatively, liquid smoke can
be obtained through distillation and subse-
quent condensation of volatile compounds
and then applied to the surface of the meat
product. This last strategy with extended use
consists of the use of the primary products
(primary smoke condensates and primary tar
fractions) that may be further processed to
produce smoke fl avorings applied in or on
foods. These smoke fl avorings can be incor-
porated at concentrations within the range
0.1% – 1.0%. These fl avorings are produced
from primary products obtained from differ-