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Review
. 2024 Jun 22;13(13):1977.
doi: 10.3390/foods13131977.

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons' Impact on Crops and Occurrence, Sources, and Detection Methods in Food: A Review

Tengfei Liu  1   2 , Li Zhang  3 , Leiqing Pan  1 , Daifeng Yang  2
Affiliations
Review

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons' Impact on Crops and Occurrence, Sources, and Detection Methods in Food: A Review

Tengfei Liu et al. Foods. .

Abstract

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) represent a category of persistent organic pollutants that pose a global concern in the realm of food safety due to their recognized carcinogenic properties in humans. Food can be contaminated with PAHs that are present in water, air, or soil, or during food processing and cooking. The wide and varied sources of PAHs contribute to their persistent contamination of food, leading to their accumulation within these products. As a result, monitoring of the levels of PAHs in food is necessary to guarantee the safety of food products as well as the public health. This review paper attempts to give its readers an overview of the impact of PAHs on crops, their occurrence and sources, and the methodologies employed for the sample preparation and detection of PAHs in food. In addition, possible directions for future research are proposed. The objective is to provide references for the monitoring, prevention, and in-depth exploration of PAHs in food.

Keywords: contamination; crops; detection; food; polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; sources.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Structures of the 16 EPA PAHs.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Main sources of PAHs in food products.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Different extraction and cleanup methods used for PAH analysis in food.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Schematic diagram of a PLE system.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Schematic of the main steps of the original QuEChERS analysis technique [122].
Figure 6
Figure 6
Illustration of the main steps of the VA-SPE procedure [151].
Figure 7
Figure 7
(A) General scheme for the extraction and desorption steps in SPME analysis [157]. (B) Schematic diagram of the separation principle of GPC test [164].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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