Abstract
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)—a large group of organic compounds—are extremely hazardous to human health. In this study, the 198 samples from six groups of daily food products in the Hanoi metropolitan area were collected and prepared by the QuEChERS sample treatment technique. The detection and identification of PAHs were obtained by gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (GC–MS/MS) determination. The results demonstrated that the recovery of PAH compounds ranged approximately between 71% and 110% when the solvent evaporation condition was optimized using the nitrogen gas at a low temperature (1 °C). The in-house method was validated in terms of linearity, extractive condition, repeatability, recovery, limit of detection (LOD), and limit of quantification (LOQ). The ranges of average PAH levels were 9.3–9.6 µg/kg (for instant noodles), 0.22–2.48 µg/kg (for cakes) 0.91–4.83 µg/kg (dried vegetables), 5.14–23.32 µg/kg (teas), 4.82–24.35 µg/kg (coffees), and 1.43–25.2 µg/kg (grilled meats). The results indicated that the total concentrations of residual PAHs and benzo(a)pyrene in the instant noodles and grilled meat samples surpassed the maximum limits tolerated by the European Commission (35 µg/kg and 5 µg/kg, respectively) in many investigated samples.
Highlights
Food processing is frequently used to treat fresh foods in food products or transform treated raw materials into other forms of food
GC–MS/MS analyses were performed on a Thermo Fisher Scientific (Waltham, MA, USA) system consisting of a Trace GC 1310 gas chromatograph, a TriPlus RSH Autosampler, and TSQ 8000 mass spectrometer (Thermo, Waltham, MA, USA)
The sample preparation process was based on the QuEChER extraction method requiring the utilization of acetonitrile solvent to enhance efficiency of the extraction of analytical substances from the sample matrix
Summary
Food processing is frequently used to treat fresh foods (raw materials) in food products or transform treated raw materials into other forms of food. Cooking and processing food at a high temperature are acknowledged as important contributors to producing harmful toxics for human health [1]. Some toxins—heterocyclic amines (HCAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)—can change the genome system and cause cancer [2]. These toxic agents, especially PAHs, are receiving attention worldwide [3]. PAHs, which are persistent organic pollutants, consist of numerous carbon atoms joined together to form multiple rings [4].
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