Contamination of traditionally smoked cheeses with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and biogenic amines

The purpose of this research was to determine the occurrence of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and 8 biogenic amines in traditionally smoked cheeses in order to control their safety. The majority of the examined cheeses met the requirements of the maximum level of benzo[a]pyrene (2 mu g/kg) and the sum of benz [a]anthracene, chrysene, benzo fluoranthene and benzo[a]pyrene (12 mu g/kg) set for meat and meat products, except the cheeses D, H and I. However, all cheeses examined in our study were characterized by a relatively low amount of the sum of these compounds when compared to information available in literature regarding cheese. It ranged from < 0.50 to 24.90 mu g/kg. Most likely this was due to delicate smoking with warm smoke. In general, the sum of biogenic amines was found to be very low in all examined cheeses. It ranged from 3.51 to 19.07 mg/kg. Such quantity poses no threat to the health of consumers.