Assessment of the influence of some spice extracts on the formation of heterocyclic amines in meat

Beef meat samples were heated in the presence of basil, oregano, marjoram, rosemary, sweet grass, savory, thyme and coriander extracts and the effects on the formation of heterocyclic amines (HAs) were measured by HPLC with fluorescence detection. The results obtained after heating meat in diethylene glycol showed that the addition of 0.2% and 0.5% of thyme, savory and oregano extracts slightly decreased the formation of 1-methyl-6-phenyl-1H-imidazo[4,5-b]pyridin-2-amine (PhIP). Other extracts did not have any influence on the concentration of PhIP, while in some cases they promoted its formation, particularly with basil extract. Oregano and basil extracts, which showed the best positive and negative effects on the formation of PhIP, were tested by heating meat in vegetable oil. Both extracts increased PhIP amount, but decreased Trp-P-2 concentration (see Section 2.1). The content of Trp-P-1 decreased in the samples with basil and increased in those with oregano. No correlation between the anti-oxidant activity of extracts and the formation of PhIP was found.