Impact Assessment of Smoking Duration on Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH’s) Contaminations of Clarias gariepinus.

Abstract

Smoked catfish (Clarias gariepinus) was examined with the aim of determining the effect of smoking duration on the extent of accumulation of the sixteen US EPA priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).The levels of PAHs in the smoked catfish samples were obtained using gas chromatography with a flame ionization detector after extracting with n-hexane by soxhlet extraction technique. The result showed detection of all the 16 PAHs in the smoked catfish. Higher molecular weight PAHs having ≥4 rings showed considerably higher concentration as compared to PAHs that had a lower ring.The mean concentrations of total PAH in the investigated smoked catfish showed mean values of 1.91 μg/kg, 2.10 μg/kg, 2.32 μg/kg, and 2.58 μg/kg respectively. The ΣBaPeq (0.113) and ΣPAH (10.642 μg/kg) levels are within the range of European Commission Regulations maximum tolerable limits of 2 to 5 μg/kg respectively.The result indicated that the PAH accumulation is directly proportional to the smoking period. Diagnostic ratio (Ant/(Ant+Phen) ratio <0.10) conducted showed wood combustion as the main sources of contamination in the analyzed smoked catfish.