The effect of different thawing methods on heterocyclic aromatic amine contents of beef chops cooked by different methods

Abstract

Heterocyclic aromatic amines (HCAs) are formed during cooking of protein-rich foods at temperatures above 150°C. In this study, two different thawing methods (thawing in refrigerate and microwave) were evaluated for HCA contents of beef chops which were cooked by various methods (boiling, oven, microwave, hot plate, pan-frying without fat or oil, pan-frying with oil, and deep-fat frying). Varying levels of 2-amino-3-methylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoline (IQ) (up to 0.45 ng g-1), 2-amino-3-methylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoxaline (IQx) (up to 0.63 ng g-1) and 2-amino-l-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b] Pyridine (PhIP) (up to 0.69 ng g-1) were detected in the beef chops by using Ultra Fast Liquid Chromatography (UFLC) while 2-amino-3,4-dirne1hylimidazo[4,5-f]qumolme(MeIQ),2-amino-3,8-dimethylirnidazo[4,5-f]qumoxalme(MeIQx),2-amino-3,4,8-trimethylimidazo[4,5-f]qumoxalme (4,8-DiMeIQx), 2-amino-3,7,8-tnniethylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoxaline (7,8-DiMelQx), 2-amino-9H-pyndo[2,3-b]indole (AαC) and 2-amino-3-methyl-9H-pyndo[2,3-b]indole (MeAaC) were not detected in any samples analyzed. Cooking methods had a significant (p<0.01) effect on the HCA contents of chops. While the HCAs could not be detected in the samples cooked by boiling, oven, microwave and hot plate, HCAs could be detected in samples cooked by deep-fat frying, pan-fry with oil and pan-fry ing without oil. The highest total amount of HCAs was found 1.77 ng g-1 m beef chops which were cooked in pan-fried with oil. Thawing methods (in refrigerator and microwave) did not have a significant effect (p >0.05) on the HCA content of the samples. The results show that HCAs can be isolated in a very short time (5 min) by using UFLC. © Medwell Journals, 2010.