Effect of Natural Food Condiments on Carcinogenic/Mutagenic Heterocyclic Amines Formation in Thermally Processed Camel Meat

In the present study, the effect of various natural food condiments (garlic, ginger, pepper, tomato and onion) on the formation of heterocyclic amines (HAs) in cooked camel meat was studied. In control sample, the amount of HAs MeIQx, 4,8-DiMeIQx and PhIP were obtained between 2.10 and 5.22 ng/g, while, MeIQ and IQ were found less than quantification limit. The camel meat cooked with different food condiments, the HAs were found in lesser amounts. MeIQx, 4,8-DiMeIQx and PhIP were detected from 0.42 to 2.83 ng/g, however, MeIQ and IQ were not indentified in any analyzed samples. Consequently, camel meat cooked by various food condiments illustrates the capability to reduce the HAs formation. Such information may be elucidated because of the presence of antioxidants in such condiments which might have pro-oxidative effects with the subsequent formation of peroxyl radicals or by the scavenging of oxygen or free radicals.

Practical Applications

This is the first study relating to the inhibition of HAs by means of some common food condiments in cooked camel meat. In this work, five HAs such as MeIQx, 4,8-DiMeIQx, PhIP, MeIQ and IQ have been studied in camel meat samples thermally processed with or without food condiments. Our results evidently demonstrate that the formation of HAs in cooked camel meat is highly affected by using food condiments. The current study also illustrates that the concentrations of HAs can be kept at low levels by cooking the meat that include food condiments. The obtained results could be used to estimate the human intake of HAs either in Saudi Arabia or global and supplied to the search of good food condiments that reduce the threat of exposure to HAs, and thus to advance the food security and quality.