Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in oil fried quail meat vs. rabbit meat

Processing improves microbiological profile of food, but also introduces carcinogenic compounds, such as PAHs in food items. It has been noticed that generation of these carcinogenic compounds can be reduced by the marination process. There is a difficulty to check PAHs levels and make comparison of results when a variety of variables are involved. The study aimed to analyse the concentration of PAHs standards in black and brown quail meat, checked the effect of different recipes (in which different spices are used), and also compared the recipe-wise PAHs concentration. This study also focused to compare the PAHs values in both quails (brown and black) as well as their PAHs results with the previous rabbit study. PAHs were analysed by gas chromatography mass spectrometry from 42 samples of black and brown quail meat samples. The maximum level of naphthalene was noticed in recipe V (country fried kebab) (1.71 μg/g), recipe IV (chapli kebab) (1.38 μg/g) and recipe III (gram flour kebab) (1.01 μg/g) of brown quail. The mean naphthalene concentration in raw sample was 0.81 μg/g for black quail and 0.85 μg/g for brown quail. Levels of PAHs in raw samples were dependent on contamination of environment. The lowest concentration of naphthalene was noticed in recipe II (cocktail kebab) in both quail. Concentrations of phenanthrene, fluoranthene and pyrene were lower than naphthalene. Content of anthracene was not observed in any sample. Heavy PAHs were not detected in any samples of quail and rabbit meat. This is first effort to check the PAHs concentration in quail meat. This study can provide a preliminary guideline to food industry that black quail is the best meat for consumers due to its lower PAHs range rather than brown quail.