Abstract
The monitoring of food contaminants is of interests to both food regulatory bodies and the consumers. This literature review covers polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) with regard to their background, sources of exposures, and occurrence in food and environment as well as health hazards. Furthermore, analytical methods focusing on the analysis of PAHs in tea, coffee, milk, and alcoholic samples for the last 16 years are presented. Numerous experimental methods have been developed aiming to obtain better limits of detections (LODs) and percent recoveries as well as to reduce solvent consumption and laborious work. These include information such as the selected PAHs analyzed, food matrix of PAHs, methods of extraction, cleanup procedure, LOD, limits of quantitation (LOQ), and percent recovery. For the analysis of tea, coffee, milk, and alcoholic samples, a majority of the research papers focused on the 16 US Environmental Protection Agency PAHs, while PAH4, PAH8, and methylated PAHs were also of interests. Extraction methods range from the classic Soxhlet extraction and liquid–liquid extraction to newer methods such as QuEChERS, dispersive solid-phase microextraction, and magnetic solid-phase extraction. The cleanup methods involved mainly the use of column chromatography and SPE filled with either silica or Florisil adsorbents. Gas chromatography and liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry or fluorescence detectors are the main analytical instruments used. A majority of the selected combined methods used are able to achieve LODs and percent recoveries in the ranges of 0.01–5 ug/kg and 70–110%, respectively, for the analysis of tea, coffee, milk, and alcoholic samples.
Highlights
Food contaminants such as pesticide residues, mycotoxins, and environmental pollutants can be commonly found in raw materials for feed and food production processes due to non-identical worldwide weather, harvesting, and storage conditions (Nielen and Marvin 2008)
This review summarizes the studies carried out by researchers who utilized different extraction methods to determine the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in beverages
Chinnici et al (2007) reported that the wood of the barrels and chips is naturally aged by the weather for 1–3 years, but are toasted with open oak fires and other methods of toasting, which will generate a significant amount of PAHs
Summary
Food contaminants such as pesticide residues, mycotoxins, and environmental pollutants can be commonly found in raw materials for feed and food production processes due to non-identical worldwide weather, harvesting, and storage conditions (Nielen and Marvin 2008). Food preparation steps such as cooking at a high temperature will potentially release food processing contaminants such. One of the food processing contaminants, namely PAHs, will be the main focus. The ever increasing in the number of articles regarding the presence of PAHs in foodstuffs has garnered attention worldwide due to its ubiquity, and the resulting health hazards that can arise through ingestion, inhalation, and dermal contact with PAHs. This review summarizes the studies carried out by researchers who utilized different extraction methods to determine the presence of PAHs in beverages. Researchers are focusing on developing simpler and alternative extraction, cleanup, and analytical methods, which yield good recoveries and limits of detection (LODs)
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