When meat, fish, and poultry are cooked, heterocyclic aromatic amines (HCAs or HAAs) such as 2-Amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo(4,5-b)pyridine (PhIP) and 2-Amino-3,8-dimethylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoxaline (MeIQx) are formed through Maillard browning reactions between creatinine and amino acids present in the muscle tissue as the meat is heated to high temperatures. These heterocyclic amines have demonstrated mutagenic activity <i>in vitro</i>, and their subsequent consumption in cooked foods may be associated with increased incidences of gastrointestinal cancers (such as esophageal and colorectal cancer); in fact, fresh red meat has recently been listed as a probable human carcinogen by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer. While meat samples have been analyzed in bulk to measure the HCAs produced through different cooking processes, the distribution of these compounds as a function of depth has not been investigated. In this project, beef samples were cooked and sectioned into 100 micron slices to produce a vertical cross section. Heterocyclic amines were extracted from cooked beef samples and further purified using solid phase extraction. After derivatization with N-methyl-N-tert-butyldimethylsilyltrifluoroacetamide, the HCAs were quantitated using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Representative data will be presented along with depth profiling results, and future investigations will examine the distribution of antioxidant compounds from spices applied before cooking and their impact on the HCAs formed as they have been previously shown to inhibit HCA formation in bulk.

Depth profiling of heterocyclic amines in meat formed during cooking

251st National Meeting (2016)

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