Potential sources of carcinogenic heterocyclic amines in Chinese mutton shashlik

Heterocyclic amines (HAs) are formed in muscle meat during its cooking under ordinary conditions. In this work, we measured the concentration of 15 kinds of heterocyclic aromatic amines (HAAs) in mutton shashlik which is one of the most popular dishes in China and provided the basis for efforts to quantify dietary exposure to these compounds. Five mutton shashliks bought in market were determined and the concentrations of Harman, Norharman, DMIP, PhIP and AαC were 0.40–1.36, 0.07–0.50, 0.73–65.07, 0.90–25.62, and 0.39–2.13 ng/g, respectively. The mimic experiments have been carried out in an oven to investigate the influence of time, temperature, flavours, and area of heating surface on the formation of HAAs in ground mutton roasted. The levels of HAAs in cooked meat are highly dependent on the cooking time and temperature and increased with the area of heating surface. Meanwhile, flavours have a different impact because of their various characters.