Study of the Level of Polycyclic Aromatc Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Some Locally Smoked Fish Species

A Jimah ,T A Ogiedu

doi:10.7176/cmr/13-3-03

Abstract

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are carcinogenic pollutants which get into foods during processing. In spite of this, only a few studies have been carried out on Nigerian delicacies. This study was used to determine the level of PAHs in some smoked fish species namely: clarias gariepenus (catfish) , scomber scombrus (atlantic mackerel) and clupea harengus (herring fish). The fish species were smoked with a local open-fire fish smoking drum and PAHs were determined using the Gas Chromatography (GC) coupled with flame ionization detector (FID). The levels of PAHs were evaluated on the three species of fish. The total values of PAHs have shown that the smoked clarias gariepenus (catfish) , scomber scombrus (mackerel fish) and clupea harengus (herring fish) have 80.01μg/g, 69.94μg/g and 154.08μg/g respectively. Higher values were found in benzo(a)pyrene and lower values found in naphthalene. For benzo(a)pyrene, the values were 9.20μg/g, 2.90μg/g and 40.13 μg/g respectively. For naphthalene, the values were 1.13μg/g, 1.11μg/g and 1.72μg/g respectively. Benzo(a)pyrene, which is highly carcinogenic was found to have the highest concentration in clupea harengus (herring fish) of about 40.13μg/g which is above permissible level. As for the other PAHs, they were all detected in various quantities which resulted to the high level of the total PAHs in the samples. From the study, it was revealed that the open-fire fish smoking pose a health risk for human as it is being contaminated. It is therefore recommended that a low polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) improved fish smoking kiln should be developed. Keywords: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, smoked fish, Gas chromatography, Benzo(a)pyrene, Carcinogenic DOI: 10.7176/CMR/13-3-03 Publication date: October 31 st 2021

Highlights

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) constitute a large class of organic compounds that are composed of two or more fused aromatic rings
PAHs are found in foods as a result of certain industrial food processing methods such as smoke curing, broiling, roasting and grilling over open fires or charcoal which permits the direct contact between food and combustion products (Silva et al, 2011)
The sixteen PAHs were detected and the total PAHs showed that smoked clupea harengus has the highest level of total PAHs of 154.08μg/g, followed by smoked clarias gariepenus with 80.01μg/g and the least contaminated was smoked scomber scombrus (Atlantic mackerel) fish with 69.94μg/g respectively

Summary

Introduction

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) constitute a large class of organic compounds that are composed of two or more fused aromatic rings They are a class of ubiquitous environmental pollutants which can be generated during the preparation of food (Agerstad and Skog, 2005). Sixteen PAHs that have been extensively monitored are the compounds included in the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) list of priority organic pollutants (USEPA, 1994). Of these 16 PAHs, Benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) is probably the most studied and has been described by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as probable human carcinogen in 1987 (IARC, 1987). The determination of BaP has been widely used in environmental analysis as marker for the entire PAH content (Otahen, 2021)

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