Determination and identification of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in smoked and charcoal-broiled food products by high pressure liquid chromatography and gas chromatography.

A high pressure liquid chromatographic procedure has been developed and applied to the analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH's) in 70 samples of smoked food products commercially available in Canada, and in 6 charcoal broiled meats. In some cases a gas-liquid chromatographic procedure was used as a confirmatory technique. In the commercial samples PAH's were detected in approx. 70% of the samples. Total PAH's ranged from 0-141 ppb and individual PAH's from 0-38 ppb. With the charcoal-broiled samples, total PAH's and individual PAH's ranged from 0-164 ppb and 0-60 ppb respectively. These levels are similar to those observed in other countries.