Determination of Seven Volatile N-Nitrosamines in Fast Food

In this study, various fast food samples, including raw meat, cured meat, grilled meat, fried meat, smoked meat and canned meat products, were analyzed for the determination of the seven volatile N-nitrosamines. The samples were treated with an aqueous sodium hydroxide (NaOH) by autoclaving at 121°C for 10 min and extracted by liquid-liquid extraction with dichloromethane, and then the nitrosamines were pre-concentrated by using activated silica. Then, gas chromatography coupled with flame ionization detector was used for the separation and determination of the different nitrosamines contained in a real sample. The applied method allowed the determination of nitrosamine compounds at trace levels with limit of detection ranging from 0.077 to 0.18 ppb, and quantitation limits were from 0.26 to 0.60 ppb for all nitrosamines. The total concentrations of the seven nitrosamines in the studied meat samples ranged from 2.60 to 13.28 μg/kg.