ANALYSIS OF FOODS FOR HETEROCYCLIC AROMATIC AMINE CARCINOGENS BY SOLID-PHASE EXTRACTION AND HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY

Carcinogenic and mutagenic heterocyclic aromatic amines (HAA) are natu ral products often present at ng/g levels in muscle meats when they ar e cooked at temperatures over 150 degrees C. Using solid-phase extract ion and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with photodiode array UV detection, samples were analyzed for the following heterocycl ic amines: DiMeIQx 2-amino-3,4,8-trimethylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoxaline); IQ (2-amino-3-methylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoline); MeIQx (2-amino-3 ,8-dime thylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoxaline); and PhIP (2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimi dazo [4,5-b]pyridine). Quality control samples, analyzed periodically over two years in a blind study, show relative standard deviations ran ging from 22 to 38% for the compounds found, variations typical for an alysis at ng/g levels. Amounts range from undetectable levels (less th an 0.1 ng/g) to hundreds of ng/g of PhIP for frying or grilling at hig h meat surface temperatures. Beef, chicken, pork and lamb can all have greater than 10 ng/g of PhIP. Ground chicken breast meat has lower am ounts of heterocyclic amines than intact muscle pieces of the same siz e cooked identically. Restaurant prepared samples that we analyzed con tained undetectable levels up to 14 ng/g total heterocyclic amines for a beef steak sample. Not extracted with the above method are related mutagenic heterocyclic amines, which have been reported in cooked food s in our laboratory and others. Method development using ion exchange on an SCX solid-phase extraction cartridge shows promise in providing a method for the quantitation of these mutagenic dimethyl-, trimethyl- and furo-imidazopyridines where a practical analysis method is needed .