Heterocyclic Aromatic Amine Contents of Kavurma Commercially Cooked in Steam and Copper Cauldron

Kavurma is a traditional coarsely diced and cooked meat product in Turkey. Heterocyclic aromatic amines (HCAs), carcinogenic and/or mutagenic compounds in commercial kavurma samples cooked in steam and copper cauldron were determined. Varying levels of 2-amino-3-methylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoline (IQ) (up to 0.07 ng/g), 2-amino-3,8-dimethylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoxaline (MeIQx) (up to 15.60 ng/g), 2-amino-3,4-dimethylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoline (MeIQ) (up to 0.10 ng/g), 2-amino-3,7,8-trimethylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoxaline (7,8-DiMeIQx) (up to 0.36 ng/g) were detected in commercially cooked kavurma, whereas 2-amino-3-methylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoxaline (IQx), 2-amino-3,4,8-trimethylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoxaline (4,8-DiMeIQx), 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b] pyridine (PhIP), 2-amino-9H-pyrido[2,3-b]indole (AαC) and 2-amino-3-methyl-9H-pyrido[2,3-b]indole (MeAαC) were not detected in any of the analyzed samples. Total HCA amounts in kavurma cooked in steam and copper cauldron were 16.01 and 12.56 ng/g, respectively. Practical Applications Heterocyclic aromatic amines (HCAs) are compounds that are formed naturally during cooking of proteinaceous foods such as meat. Epidemiologic studies have shown that most HCAs are highly mutagenic and almost all of them are also carcinogenic. Therefore, determination of the HCA content in cooked meat is very important to estimation of daily HCAs intake and furthermore to evaluate the relationship between nutrition and cancer. In this respect, kavurma is a commonly consumed meat dish in Turkey and this study provides valuable data that will help estimation of daily HCA intake and exposure.