Wheat gluten or flour from several plant sources heated at 210 degrees
C for 1hr produced 0-1800 revertant colonies/g in the Ames/Salmonella
test using strain TA98 with metabolic activation. Baked or toasted fo
ods and a heated grain beverage showed a mutagenic response in all cas
es from 2 to 320 revertants/g, with higher values seen when overcooked
. Fried meat-substitute patties showed 0-23 revertants/g when fried at
210 degrees C. A greater mutagenic response in bacterial strain TA98
than in strain TA100 and a requirement for metabolic activation sugges
ts that one or more aromatic amine mutagens are formed at normal cooki
ng temperatures, but the mutagenic activity measured cannot be account
ed for by the known heterocyclic amines commonly found in cooked meats
. We conclude that grain products form aromatic amine chemicals during
heating that are mutagenic in bacterial mutation tests.