Abstract
Background: Exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) consumed with grilled meat might be hazardous for human health. There is still lack of data on inhalation exposure to PAHs in barbecue smoke. Total PM emission from grill is very high (Rogula-Kozłowska et al. Environ Monit Assess 2013;185:581-601) and such PM concentrations might influence increased cancer risk (Badyda et al. Adv Exp Med Biol 2016;944:1-9).
Material and methods: 3 types of fuel were used: liquid propane (LP), lump charcoal (LC) and charcoal briquettes (CB). 16 PAHs congeners were extracted from PM2.5 samples and measured using GC chromatograph. Size dependent deposition in different parts of human respiratory tract was modelled. Probabilistic risk model was developed to assess the incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR).
Results: Significant increase in PAH concentrations from grill powered by CB was noticed. Total concentration of PAHs ranged from <0.0001 (gas grill) to 21.53 μg/m3 (charcoal briquettes. Daily exposure doses of PM2.5 bound-BaPeq for typical grill master while grilling meat was 326.9; 401.6 and 0.04 ng/day, for LC, CB and LP powering respectively. Inhalation-ILCR (geometric mean) ranged from of 5.57×10−5 (exposure to PM2.5-bound PAHs from unloaded gas grill) to 5.77×10−1 (food grilled using charcoal briquettes). The risk for people inhaling grill emission gases for 5 hours/day, 20 days/year exceeded 10−3, suggesting high probability of cancer occurrences due to PAHs exposure.
Conclusion: Charcoal briquettes are most dangerous concerning inhalation exposure to PAHs from BBQ emissions. To protect against such risk exposure duration should be less than 1 hour.
- Copyright ©the authors 2017
