Effect of fat content, casing type and smoking procedures on PAHs contents of Portuguese traditional dry fermented sausages

- Casing type has a decisive impact on total PAHs content.
- Collagen casing showed lower contamination levels, irrespective of fat content and smoking regime.
- Products with high fat content, stuffed in tripe casing and submitted to direct smoking presented higher PAHs levels.
- Light compounds (harmless) represented >99% of total PAHs while heavy PAHs were only found in casings.

Portuguese dry fermented sausages are traditionally processed through direct drying/smoking, making them susceptible to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) contamination. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of added fat (20% and 40%), casing type (hog and collagen) and smoking procedures (direct and indirect exposure) on the 16 EPA priority PAHs in dry fermented sausages manufactured according traditional processing. The total PAHs content (sum of 16 PAHs) found in whole product (casing included) varied between 150 and 870 μg kg−1, with more than 99% of this content corresponding to harmless low molecular weight compounds. Concerning benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) and PAH4, the respective maximum contents (0.32 and 10.35 μg kg−1, respectively) did not exceed the imposed limits regulated by the European Union. According to our results, casing type was the most influential factor. For hog samples, fat content and smoking regime alone did not influenced the total PAHs amount. However, significantly higher (p < 0.05) contamination levels were detected in hog casing samples combining high fat content and direct smoking procedures. In opposition, irrespective of the fat content and smoking regime, safer products, with significantly lower (p < 0.001) contamination levels, were obtained when collagen casing was used.