Quantitative Determination of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Barbecued Meat Sausages by Gas Chromatography Coupled to Mass Spectrometry

A method is described for the analysis of the 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) prioritized by the USA EPA in meat sausages grilled under common barbecue practices. Quantification was done by GC-MS using perdeuterated internal standards (IS). Validation was done by spiking the matrix at the 0.5 and 1.0 microg/kg levels. The average of expected values ranged from 60 to 134% (median 84%) at the 0.5 microg/kg level and from 69 to 121% (median 96%) at the 1.0 microg/kg level. The median of the limits of detection and quantification were 0.06 and 0.20 microg/kg, respectively, for a 4-g test portion. The carcinogenic PAHs were below the quantification limit in all products except one lamb sausage. Comparison of estimates when either 1, 5, or 16 perdeuterated PAHs were used as IS showed that the most accurate determination of PAHs required that each compound be quantified against its corresponding perdeuterated analogue.