Heterocyclic aromatic amines in grilled beef: The influence of free amino acids, nitrogenous bases, nucleosides, protein and glucose on HAAs content

The aim of the study was to determine the content and profile of heterocyclic aromatic amines (HAAs) formed during the process of grilling beef under various conditions and involving different cuts of beef meat. 4,8-DiMeIQx was the most prevalent (4.50-7.55 ng g−1) the next were: MeIQx (1.10-7.20 ng g−1), MeIQ (1.70-5.30 ng g−1), and IQ (0.38 2.00 ng g−1). Changes in HAAs content, depending on the chemical composition of beef meat, were investigated; the compounds under analysis included free amino acids, glucose and protein as well as free nitrogenous bases and their nucleosides. It was demonstrated that HAAs formation strongly correlates with the presence of various amino acids in raw beef as well as that of glucose and protein (correlation coefficient 0.84-0.93). It was also demonstrated that free purine bases, pyrimidine bases and their nucleosides, which had never previously been studied in terms of their role as substrates for HAAs synthesis, correlate very strongly with HAA formation in grilled beef (correlation coefficient 0.78-0.99). The influence of thermal processing at high temperatures on the thermal decomposition of aminoimidazoazaarenes has not been corroborated by the present study.