Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Some Smoked Foodstuffs in Lagos State, Southwest, Nigeria

The smoked food samples (Smoked fish, roasted yam, sharwama, suya, roasted plantain and roasted corn) were sampled from retail outlets in Lagos State, Nigeria. The analysis was carried out with a Gas Chromatography (GC) – Flame Ionization Detector (FID) equipped with auto sampler. The results of sixteen PAHs in the studied smoked food shows that PAHs of low molecular weight such as acenaphthene and anthracene were detected in all the food samples. High molecular weight PAHs such as fluoranthene, pyrene and benzo (a) anthracene were also detected. Five and six membered ring PAHs benzo (k) fluoranthrene, benzo (a) pyrene, indenol (1, 2, 3) perylene, dibenzo (a, h) anthracene and benzo (g, h, i) perylene were not detected in all the food samples. Total PAHs concentrations determined in smoked food samples were: smoked fish 0.3303 Mg/Kg, roasted yam 0.2456 Mg/Kg, sharwama 0.4508 Mg/Kg, suya 0.4762 Mg/Kg, roasted plantain 0.1844 Mg/Kg and roasted corn 0.1719 Mg/Kg. The sum of the total fraction of PAHs in smoked food samples calculated according to their rings number and percentage. A two-ring PAHs (naphthalene) was not detected in all the samples except in roasted plantain with 20.6%. A three-ring PAHs recorded the highest percentage of the total PAHs constituting 87.2% in smoked fish, 43.8% in roasted yam, 81.9% in sharwama, 83.3% in suya, 37.5% in roasted plantain and 67.4% in roasted corn. While a four- ring PAHs constitute 12.8% in smoked fish, 56.2% in roasted yam, 18.1% in sharwama, 16.7% in suya, 41.9% in roasted plantain and 32.7% in roasted corn.