Formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons during processing of duck meat

The effects of various processing methods, steaming, roasting, smoking, charcoal grilling, and liquid smoke flavoring (LSF), on the formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in duck breast steak were studied. The various PAHs in the duck samples were analyzed by gas chromatography with ion-trap detection. Results showed that with processing time from 0.5 to 1.5 h, charcoal grilling of duck samples with skin contained the highest amount of total PAHs, followed by charcoal grilling of duck samples without skin, smoking, roasting, steaming, and LSF. For carcinogenic PAHs, smoking contained the highest amount, followed by charcoal grilling and roasting. No carcinogenic PAHs were observed for steaming and LSF-treated duck samples. Also, the highest amounts of both total and carcinogenic PAHs were found after smoking duck samples for 3 h.