Determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in smoked bush meat
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Date
2013-07-25
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Abstract
Public awareness on the safety of meat and meat products is heightened by the day solely due to reports from most health institutions across the country. The use of all sorts of materials including lorry tyres to prepare bush meat in particular for consumption leaves many residues and contaminants of which polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons was of major concern. Thus, 12 bush meat samples were obtained from six local producers within the Kumasi Metropolis to investigate the presence and levels of PAHs using Gas Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). The samples were examined for nine of the most carcinogenic PAHs. The concentrations of naphthalene, 2-methylnaphthalene, acenaphthalene, acenaphthene, fluorene, phenanthrene, anthracene, fluoranthene and pyrene were: 0.210, 0.379, 0.084, 0.329, 0.066, 0.478, 0.0670.153 and 0.095 respectively. PAHs present in the samples were all less than 0.5 µg/kg on the average of the total contamination profile, with phenanthrene and 2-methylnaphthalene occurring with the highest concentrations (maximum contents of 0.920 and 0.527 mg/kg respectively), irrespective of the bush meat type analysed. Smoked antelope meat was potentially more risky, since total PAHs contents for antelope were generally higher as compared to other bush meat samples. Significant however to the findings of this research is that the PAHs levels were far below the European Union recommended levels of 5µg/kg in smoked meat.
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A Thesis Submitted To The School Of Graduate Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University Of Science And Technology, Kumasi, in partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of degree of Master of Philosophy in Analytical chemistry, June-2013