Heterocyclic amines in griddled beef steak analysed using a single extract clean-up procedure

Heterocyclic amines (HAs), which are potent mutagenic and carcinogenic substances, are formed in muscle meats during their cooking under ordinary conditions. In this work, we measured the concentration of 15 HAs in different samples of griddled beef steak, which is one of the most consumed meat items is Spain. Three samples were obtained from different restaurants, and the other sample was cooked under controlled conditions to a well-done degree of doneness. A low-time consuming solid-phase extraction procedure was used to purify the samples, and liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry with an ion trap mass analyzer was used as determination technique. A second well-established purification procedure was used to demonstrate the applicability of the method to the analysis of these kind of samples. 8-MeIQx, 4,8-DiMeIQx, PhIP and the comutagens Harman and Norharman were found in all the samples, at levels ranging from 0.28 to 21.2 ng g−1. AαC was found in three samples (0.18–1.41 ng g−1), whereas Trp-P-1 was detected in two samples (0.35 ng g−1). MeAαC was found in three samples but could only be quantified in one (0.15 ng g−1). Trp-P-2 and DMIP were also detected in some cases at levels below their limit of quantification. The remaining HAs analyzed were not detected in any of the samples.