Influence of Cooking Processes on the Concentrations of Toxic Metals and Various Organic Environmental Pollutants in Food: A Review of the Published Literature

Abstract

In recent years, a number of studies have determined the daily intake of various chemical pollutants through the diet. Although the influence of cooking on the concentrations of chemical pollutants in food should not be discarded, in most surveys concerning dietary intake of environmental contaminants, food analyses were performed on uncooked/raw products. However, a very important number of foodstuffs are consumed after being cooked. This paper presents an overview on the available scientific information on the influence of cooking processes on the concentrations of various metals and organic contaminants in foodstuffs. The scientific literature has been reviewed using the PubMed and Scopus databases. Although certain cooking processes could reduce or increase the levels of chemical contaminants in food, it seems that the influence of cooking on the levels of these contaminants depends not only on the particular cooking process, but even more on the specific food item. In general terms, cooking procedures that release or remove fat from the product should tend to reduce the total concentrations of the organic contaminants in the cooked food.