Inhibitory effects of 25 spices on heterocyclic aromatic amines formation in cooked pork patties

Heterocyclic aromatic amines (HAAs) are carcinogenic and mutagenic substances produced when meat products are cooked at high temperatures. This study aimed to investigate the effects of different roasting temperatures (150, 175, 200, 225, and 250 ºC) and different roasting times (5, 10, 15, and 20 min) on the type and content of HAAs and the inhibitory effect of different spices on the formation of HAAs in oven-cooked pork patties using liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS). In this study, 10 HAAs were detected (MeIQ, MeIQx, 4,8-DiMeIQx, PhIP, IQx, IQ, Harman, MeAαC, AαC, and Trp-P-2). The results demonstrated that all spices tested had inhibitory effects on HAA formation in pork patties cooked at 250 ºC for 25 min. The selected 25 spices tested in this study were chili, black pepper, cinnarmon bark, star anise, cumin, sichuan pepper, ginger, clove, fennel, telosma cordatum, dahurian angelica root, coriander seed, liquorice, rhizoma chuanxiong, cardamom, fragrant sand, rhizoma kaempferiae, fructus piper longum, fructus tsaoko, katsumade galangal seed, tangerine peel, gardenia fruit, hawthorn, myrcia, and paicao. Ginger and clove were the two most effective HAAs inhibitors, with inhibition rates up to 86.41%and 84.75%, respectively. A positive relative between total free phenol content and total HAAs contents were confirmed with 0.028 of p value by multiple linear regression analyses. However, possibly due to the complexity of HAAs formation, the DPPH·scavenging activity of spices was not significantly related to the total HAAs content.