Contamination of traditionally smoked cheeses with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and biogenic amines

Abstract The purpose of this research was to determine the occurrence of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and 8 biogenic amines in traditionally smoked cheeses in order to control their safety. The majority of the examined cheeses met the requirements of the maximum level of benzo[a]pyrene (2 μg/kg) and the sum of benz[a]anthracene, chrysene, benzo[b]fluoranthene and benzo[a]pyrene (12 μg/kg) set for meat and meat products, except the cheeses D, H and I. However, all cheeses examined in our study were characterized by a relatively low amount of the sum of these compounds when compared to information available in literature regarding cheese. It ranged from