POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS IN BEEF BALANGU SMOKED WITH DIFFERENT FUEL WOOD SPECIES

Smoking enhances the microbiological safety and eating quality of meat; however, such treatments contribute to the formation of harmful substances in meat products. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are the main contaminants formed during the smoking and grilling of meat products. They are created due to the incomplete burning of fuel and leakage of cellular juice from the heat source. These compounds have been implicated in various human cancer cases. This study investigated the presence of PAHs in beef balanga smoked with different fuel wood species. The research consisted of five (5) treatments involving one kilogram (1kg) each of beef smoked with geza (Combretum micratum), kalgo (Piliostigma thonningii), malga (Cassia sieberiana), and sabara (Guiera senegalensis) in a laboratory oven. Three samples from each treatment group were used for the determination of PAHs using GC-MS. The result for PAHs indicated that 40 PAH compounds were detected in all 15 samples. Six compounds each were detected in meat smoked with geza and malga, nine PAHs were detected in meat smoked with kalgo, 12 compounds were detected in meat smoked in an electric oven, and seven compounds were detected in meat smoked with Sabara. The PAHs 2-methyl-Naphthalene (10.00%) and 2-(1-dimethyl)–Naphthalene (10.00%) were found to be more prevalent across the treatment groups, followed by Napthalene (7.50%) and 1,6-dimethyl-Naphthane (5.00%). The less prevalent PAHs were 1-naphthalanol (2.5%) and pylene (2.5%), followed by 5-azulene (2.50%) and 9, 10-anthracenedol (2.50%). 2-methyl-naphthalene was more prevalent across the treatments. It was concluded that from all the treatment assessed, PAHs 2-methyl-Naphthalene were found to be more prevalent across the treatment, and meat samples smoked with sabara and roasted in oven have higher protein content (26.397 and 26.583, respectively). It is recommended that, Geza and Malga fuel wood species should be utilized by the butchers and households especially during festivities, this is due the fact that they have less number of PAHs detected.