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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania » Eastern Regional Research Center » Microbial and Chemical Food Safety » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #324361
Title: Heterocyclic aromatic amine content in chicken burgers and chicken nuggets sold in fast food restaurants and effects of green tea extract and microwave thawing on their formation

Author
item HASKARACA, GULIZ - Ankara University Of Turkey
item DEMIROK SONCU, EDA - Ankara University Of Turkey
item KOLSARICI, NURAY - Ankara University Of Turkey
item OZ, F - Ataturk University
item Juneja, Vijay

Submitted to: Journal of Food Processing and Preservation
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/29/2016
Publication Date: 1/10/2017
Citation: Haskaraca, G., Demirok Soncu, E., Kolsarici, N., Oz, F., Juneja, V.K. 2017. Heterocyclic aromatic amine content in chicken burgers and chicken nuggets sold in fast food restaurants and effects of green tea extract and microwave thawing on their formation. Journal of Food Processing and Preservation. doi: 10.111/jfpp.13240.

Interpretive Summary: Sufficient evidence exists to document that hetercyclic aromatic amines (HAA) formed in meat when cooked at high temperatures can cause cancer in human beings. We determined concentrations of these compounds in chicken burgers (CB) and chicken nuggets (CN) purchased from fast-food restaurants and assessed the efficacy of green tea extract (GTE) and microwave thawing (MT) on their formation. We found that CB and CN contained high levels of HAA as compared to their concentrations in products prepared in the laboratory. Both GTE and MT were not effective in reducing the formation of HAA. These findings will assist fast food restaurants to control processing time and temperatures to inhibit the formation of HAA and thereby, enhancing the safety of these products.

Technical Abstract: The aims of the current study were to investigate the presence of carcinogenic and mutagenic heterocyclic aromatic amines (HAAs) in chicken burgers (CBs) and chicken nuggets (CNs) purchased from fast food restaurants and the effects of green tea extract addition (GTE) to the covering material as well as microwave thawing (MT) on their formation in CBs and CNs. HAAs (IQx, IQ, MeIQx, MeIQ, 7,8-DiMeIQx, 4,8-DiMeIQx, PhIP, AaC, MeAaC) were analyzed by HPLC after solid phase extraction. The total HAAs content varied between not quantified (nq)-9.72 ng/g meat and 1.94-22.01 ng/g meat for commercial CBs and CNs products. These values ranged between nq-3.42 ng/g meat and nq-0.31 ng/g meat for CBs and CNs, respectively, produced in the laboratory. Commercial CBs and CNs contained high amounts of HAAs, with MeIQx being the dominant HAA in all tested samples. GTE and MT did not reduce the HAAs formation in CBs and CNs. The results suggest that widely consumed CBs and CNs contain high amounts of undesirable HAAs.