Effect of ohmic cooking followed by an infrared cooking method on lipid oxidation and formation of polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) of beef muscle

In this study, the effects of ohmic cooking alone and a consecutive application of ohmic and infrared cooking on lipid oxidation and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) formation in beef was investigated. In consecutive cooking, samples were first cooked ohmically at 40, 55 and 70 Volt for 7 minutes, then infrared cooking was applied to each side of ohmically cooked beef samples at 3 different temperatures (325, 375 and 425 °F) for 3 minutes. The thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS) levels of the samples were found between 0.31 and 1.74 mg MDA/kg. Increasing the voltage level in ohmic cooking caused a significant (P < 0.05) increase in the TBARS value. In the consecutive application of ohmic and infrared cooking, infrared cooking temperature caused a significant (P < 0.05) increase in the TBARS value at the same voltage levels. In this study, working with 40 and 55 Volts for ohmic cooking alone and 40 V-325 °F, 40V-375 °F settings for ohmic-infrared cooking gave a generally acceptable threshold level for TBARS value (1 mg/kg). About 12 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were detected in the cooked beef by ultra-performance liquid chromatography fluorescence detector (UPLC-FD). Benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), which is the most common PAH, was detected at between 1.2514 and 1.4392 μg/kg and 4 PAH (sum of Benzo(a)pyrene, Chrysene, Benz(a)anthracene, Benz(b)fluoranthene) levels were detected at between 1.2514- 3.7844 μg/kg. The results of PAHs were reasonably below the European Commission regulation limits, which are very important and indicate that the cooking processes applied in this study are safe.