Rapid determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in grilled meat using microwave-assisted extraction and dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction coupled to gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

•A simple and fast method to determine PAHs from grilled meat was developed.•DLLME was used for quick pre-concentration of PAHs from the hydrolyzing solvent.•Final separation and quantification were performed by GC–MS in SIM mode.•The figures of merit for PAHs in grilled meat using the MAE–DLLME were acceptable.

A simple and rapid analytical tech nique for the simultaneous determination of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in grilled meat was developed using microwave-assisted extraction and dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (MAE–DLLME) followed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). The effective parameters in DLLME process were optimized. Good linear relationships were obtained for 16 PAHs in a range of 1–200 ng g− 1, with a correlation coefficient (R2) higher than 0.98. Limits of detection and limits of quantification were 0.15–0.3 ng g− 1 and 0.47–1 ng g− 1, respectively. The relative standard deviations (RSD%) for seven analyses were less than 9%. The recoveries of those compounds in grilled meat were obtained from 85% to 104%. Low consumption of the solvent, high recovery, short extraction time, no matrix interference and good merit figures compared to other methods are advantages of the proposed method. The performance of the present method was evaluated for the determination of PAHs in various types of real grilled meat samples, and satisfactory results were obtained.