Assessment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon content of smoked fish by means of a fast HPLC/HPLC method

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) concentrations in smoked food can rea ch levels hazardous for the human health, especially when the smoking proce dure is carried out under uncontrolled conditions. In this work a simple an d rapid method for the determination of PAHs in smoked fish samples is desc ribed. PAHs were extracted from the insoluble samples (together with fat su bstances) by homogenization with acidified chloroform. The fat extract was then submitted to a first LC sample preparation step (performed on a large silica column) to isolate PAHs from triglycerides. After reconcentration, t he PAH fraction was finally injected into the reverse-phase analytical colu mn. The proposed method, which presents good characteristics of recoveries and repeatability, was also used to analyze PAH content of some smoked trou t samples packed under vacuum.