The influence of environment, mode of nutrition and animal species on level of nitrosamine contamination in venison

Abstract

The work aimed to research occurrence of nitrosamines in raw venison from different game species and mode of nutrition effect on their meat concentrations. Samples of venison from male and female elks, male and female red deer, male and female roe deer, male and female fallow deer, male and female wild boars, male and female brown hares and males and females of wild rabbits shot in Poland during the permissible hunting seasons were used for the experiments after their jointing and cutting. In the experiments conducted on eight species and 16 genera of wild male and female game animals a total of 336 analytical assays were conducted. Twenty-one meat samples of 1 kg each (each from a different animal) were collected respectively from males and females of eight animal species and taken to a laboratory. Meat contents of nitrosamines [dimethylonitrosamine (DMNA) and diethylonitrosamine (DENA)] were assessed by Pancholy's method adapted to nitrosamine determination in meat and meat products by Scanlan and Ryes. The levels of DMNA and DENA were determined using a Varian 3400 gas chromatograph coupled to a mass spectrometer (Finnigan MAT ITD. 800). Quantitative and qualitative analysis was conducted by comparison with N-nitrosamine standard solution chromatograms.