DISSERTATIONCOVERPAGEFOR1STSEMESTERVISITING

INTERNATIONALSTUDENTS

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Student Name. Tatiana Luiza Soares Student No. 13188453

Essay title: "A review of the toxins and contaminants found in cooked and
raw meat and meat products"
MODULE NUMBER: BI417 SUPERVISOR: Rita Dempsey
Number of words: 2000
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 Summary

Meat have being one of the most important components of it human diet

since pre-historical, because it provides essential nutrients to the human body.

The proteins, fat and various micronutrients offered by meat are involved in

either in development and regulatory process. However, meat intake has being

associated to several health issues, since cardiovascular diseases to cancers.

One of the reasons for this association is the presence of some toxins and

contaminants in meat. The contamination of the animals by atmospheric and

soil pollutants and some types preservative and cooking processes can be

considerate the main origins of these toxins.

 Introduction

Meat was introduced in human diet in pre-historical times. It started with

the gradual development of hunting by human ancestors, and continued when,

after millions years, they began to domesticate animals for eat. There are some

evidences that the meat consumption would be really significant to human

evolution, being related, for example, to the development of the human brains

and, also the human erect posture (Pereira & Vicente, 2013).

Meat is an important source of nutrients to human diet, such as

proteins, fat, vitamins and minerals. Proteins are one of the most relevant

components of meat and correspond to 20-35% of it (Ferguson, 2010). Meat

can be source of all 8 essential amino acids, which are those that the human

body is not able to manufacture.

Despite of providing several benefits, some health risks - such as

cancers and cardiovascular diseases - have being recently associated with

meat ingestion, especially red and processed meats. The risks associated with

meat are related to high amounts of fat intake and, also with the presence of

some chemical toxins that can be originated from contaminated animals and

cooking and preservation methods.

This brief review presents some of the toxins (dioxins and PCBs, Heavy

Metals, Nitrite and N-nitroso compounds, HCAs and PAHs) and explains their

presence in meat.
 Dioxins and Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs)

Dioxins and PCBs are organochlorine compounds classified as

persistent environmental pollutants (POPs). Dioxins are non-intentionally

generated during the incineration of waste and also during some industrial

process, for example in the production of chlorine, paper bleaching and

production of pesticides. PCBs are compounds that have application in several

industrial sectors. They are frequently used as dielectric fluid in electric

transformers and capacitors, lubricant oils and heat transfer systems. Currently,

they were banned from many countries, due to their harmful effect on the

environment and on human health.

FIGURE 1 Structures of dioxin (left) and PCBs (right).

Owing to their resistance to breaking down process, both dioxins and

PCBs are persistent compounds, therefore, they are able to bio-accumulate

through the food chain. These compounds are present in the air and the soil,

thus humans and animals are constantly exposed to them. Since these

compounds are highly soluble in fatty tissues, they are capable of bio-

accumulate in humans, once the latter ingest meat and other products from

contaminated animals.
 According to information available in World Health Organization website

(2014), a long-term exposure of humans to dioxins can result in damages to the

immune, nervous, endocrine and reproductive systems. It can also be a

probable cause of cancer in humans.

Serious health problems can also be caused by PCBs exposure, such

as hepatic, immunologic and endocrine alterations, neurobehavioral effects,

reproductive toxicity and increase in the incidence of tumors. As well as dioxins,

PCBs are probably human carcinogens (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

website, 2013).

The European Commission determines the maximum levels of dioxins

and PCBs in different types of meat by Regulation (EC) No 1881/2006.

TABLE 1 Maximum levels of Dioxins and PCBs in meat (1881/2006/EC)

 Heavy Metals

The presence of heavy metals in meat and meat product can be

explained by anthropological pollution. Even though being known as toxic and

bio-accumulative, these metals are continually released into aquatic and

terrestrial ecosystems by human activities.

Once those compounds have being spread in the soil and water, plants

end up absorbing them and, as a result, they are inserted in the food chain.

When the animals ingest water or food contaminated, they contaminate

themselves and, therefore, the metals are present in the meat used for human

consumption. Two examples of common heavy metals present in meat from

terrestrial animals are Lead and Cadmium.

Lead (Pb)

Lead is an element that occurs naturally in nature, usually in mineral

form, in which it is combined with other elements. Some reasons for the

spreading of this metal in the atmosphere and soil are mining and metallurgical

activities and the use of lead compounds in gasoline to increase octane rating.

Chronic lead exposure can cause haematological and neurological

disturbances. It is also classified as probably carcinogenic to humans by the

International Agency for Research on Cancer (2006).

The Commission Regulation (EC) No 1881/2006 determines that the

maximum level of Lead in meat of bovine animals, sheep, pig and poultry is

0.10 mg/Kg (wet weight).

 Cadmium (Cd)

Cadmium is also a naturally occurring element that is released to the

environment from weathering of rocks and volcanic emissions. However, the

levels of this element in water and soil have being increased by human

activities, for example the use of fertilizers and fossil fuels combustion (Food

Standard Agency website, 2013). The most important effects of ingestion of

cadmium are linked to kidney diseases (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,

2000). According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (2012),

there are some evidences that cadmium is a human carcinogenic that can

cause, especially, kidney and prostate cancers.

The maximum level of Cadmium determined by the Commission

Regulation (EC) No 1881-2006 that can be present in meat of bovine animals,

sheep, pig and poultry is 0,050 mg/Kg (wet weight).

Nitrate, Nitrite and N-nitroso compounds

Nitrate and Nitrite

Nitrate and nitrite salts are preservative compounds that are used in

cured meats. Nitrate added to raw meat is firstly reduced to nitrite by bacteria.

Nitrite is utilized as a preservative due to its ability to retard the growing of

Clostridium botulinium (bacteria that causes Botulism), and also because of the

red coloration and flavour that it gives to meat products. However, those

compounds can be toxic in high amounts and can contribute for the formation of

N-nitroso compounds that are carcinogenic.

 Nitrite is able to react with haemoglobin in red blood cells and produce

methaemoglobine. Therefore, a high ingestion of this compound can cause

Methaemoglobinaemia (blue baby syndrome). This disease cause a decrease

in levels of normal haemoglobin, thus, it reduces the ability of the blood to carry

oxygen. It can be fatal in some extreme cases, although it is now rare in most

industrialized countries.

N-nitroso compounds

An important concern related to the intake of nitrate and nitrite is their

contribution to generate carcinogenic compounds, which can be related to

gastric and colorectal cancers (International Agency for Research on Cancer,

2010). N-nitroso compounds can be formed by the interaction between a

nitrosating agent (nitrite and nitrogen oxides) and a secondary amine or an alkyl

amide (Lijinsky, 1999 and Fegunson, 2010). Nitrosamines (N-nitroso

compounds) are likely to be formed in meat products heated above 130C,

hence, frying or grilling cured meat products such as bacon and sausages offer

the required conditions to generate those compounds (Honikel, 2008). Fiddler

et al. (1978) mention nitrosopyrrolidine as an example of nitrosamine that can

be found in considerable amounts in fried bacon.

Those compounds can be present in some processed meat or can be

produced after the ingestion of meat or meat products. Due to the stomachs

high acidity, it offers the necessary conditions to nitrosamines production. This

after-ingestion production can be inhibited by the presence of vitamin C and

other antioxidants (International Agency for Research on Cancer, 2010).

 The maximum level of nitrate and nitrite salts used as additives

determined by the European Commission is the Regulation (EC) No 1333-2008.

The maximum levels of nitrite salts and nitrate salts usually vary from 100 to

150mg/Kg in processed meats, however, for cured meat products, the

maximum concentration allowed is highly dependent on the curing process and

the type of meat product. Those specific values can be founded in the

regulation.

Due to the fact that the N-nitroso compounds are produced during

cooking process and also after ingestion, there is no regulation that determines

the level maximum of it in meat.

Heterocyclic amines (HCAs)

Heterocyclic amines are produced during cooking process at high

temperatures. HCAs can be result of amino acids pyrolysis or the reaction

between creatine and Maillard reaction products (Marques et al., 2009).

Ferguson (2010) quotes as examples of HCAs the 2-Amino-1-methyl-6-

phenylimidazol[4,5-b]pyridine that is abundant in well cooked chicken and

bacon; and 2-amino-1,7-dimethylimidazo[4,5-g]quinoxaline that is the most

abundant HCA in very well done pan-fried beef and steak.

FIGURE 2 Structures of common HCAs present in cooked meats (Turesky,

2007).

The mutagenicity of HCA compounds can be associated with cancers

that affect mammary glands, prostate, colon, bladder and liver (Nagao, 1999).

HCAs from products of Maillard reaction are normally formed at

moderate temperatures (>190C). They are classified as imidazoquinolines (IQ)

and imidazoquinoxalines (IQx) compounds (Costa, 2011).

The Maillard reaction, which is responsible for meat browning, occurs at

elevated temperatures by the interaction of a carbonyl group of a sugar with a

nucleophilic amino group of an amino acid. During this process, hundreds of

compounds are produced, and among them are pyridines and pyrasines. By

cyclization and water elimination, creatine (compound present in muscle fibers

and important to supply energy to cells) contributes to the formation of the final

compound. Aldol condensation, that involves an aldehyde from Strecker

Degradation, is required to connect all these parts and, finally, result in the

amine (Skog et al., 1998).

FIGURE 3 Formation of imidazoquinolines and imidazoquinoxalines from

products of Maillard reaction (adopted from Costa, 2011)

The other type of HCAs formed is the pyrolytic amines (PhIP). They are

produced by pyrolysis of amino acids and proteins at temperatures above

300C. Amino acids, such as phenylalanine, leucine, isoleucine and tyrosine,

and creatine are considered the precursors of this type of HCAs (Costa, 2011).

Their mechanism of formation is not completely defined, however Zchling and

Murkovicit (2001) proposed a mechanism of the formation of PhIP from

phenylalanine that consists of a thermal and a Strecker degradation of this

amino acid to phenyl acetaldehyde, followed by an aldol condensation between

the latter and creatinine.

FIGURE 4 Mechanism of formation of PhIP in fried meat, proposed by

Zchling and Murkovicit (2001).

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs)

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are characterized as two or more

condensed aromatic rings. They are mainly produced during thermal cooking

methods, such as grilling, smoking and barbecuing meat. PAHs are result of

incomplete combustion or pyrolysis of the organic matter (wood or coal). During

these processes, HPAs are produced and deposited on the surface of the meat,

if it is exposed to the flame (Djinovic, 2008). The most common PAH is the

benzo(a)pyrene.
FIGURE 5 Structure of Benzo(a)pyrene, most common PAH.

The carcinogenic and mutagenic potency of HPAs is related to the

ability of these compounds to react direct or after metabolic transformations with

the DNA (Netto et al., 2000).

The Commission Regulation (EC) No 1881-2006 determines that the

maximum level of benzo(a)pyrene in smoked meat and smoked meat products

is 2,0g/Kg since 01/09/2014; and the maximum level of the sum of

benzo(a)pyrene, benz(a)anthracene, benzo(b)fluoranthene and chrysene for the

same types products is 12g/Kg since 01/09/2014.

Conclusion

Meat is an important part of the human nutrition that contributes with

essential amino acids, vitamins and minerals to maintain the function of the

body. However, meat from animals exposed to PCBs, dioxins and heavy metals

can contaminated humans and cause several negative effects to health.

Process of preservation and cooking of meat can also produce some toxic

compounds, such as nitrosamines, HCAs and PAHs that are compounds with

carcinogenic potency. The most effective way of avoiding the health risks

caused by those compounds is to find a balanced diet, in which meat is not

ingested in excessive amounts.

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