Comparative study on the formation of heterocyclic aromatic amines in different sugar smoking time

Abstract

This study evaluated the effects of sugar smoking time on the formation of heterocyclic aromatic amines (HAAs) in chicken drumsticks. The cooking loss, a*-value and b*-value, significantly increased from 4.69% to 6.58%, from 12.39 to 21.59 and from 47.21 to 53.78, and the pH, L*-value and creatine content decreased from 6.78 to 6.52, from 44.34 to 37.29 and from 4.73 to 3.59 mg/g dry matter, with the extension of sugar smoking time (P < 0.05). The concentrations of PhIP, MeAαC and polar HAAs decreased, and Harman, Norharman, apolar and total HAAs increased as sugar smoking time increased. Norharman was the dominant HAA and increased significantly (P < 0.05) from 17.46 ng/g to 40.71 ng/g with the prolongation of sugar smoking time. Correlation analysis indicated that the chicken drumsticks that underwent sugar smoking for 4 min and 6 min exhibited similar HAA content and quality characteristics. We identified that 4 min may be an appropriate sugar smoking time as a useful guideline to minimize HAA formation in the processing of smoked chicken products.