Chemical profiling of liposoluble liquid smokes obtained from Eucalyptus wood tar: confirmation of absence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

ABSTRACT

Liposoluble liquid smoke (LS) preparations are versatile food additives used worldwide. The objective of the present work was to characterise the chemical composition of four types of industrial liposoluble LS currently used as the basis for the production of commercial smoke flavourings. The LS was obtained by vacuum fractional distillation from a raw pyrolysis oil (raw LS) obtained primarily from eucalyptus wood tar. The raw LS and the four LS flavourings obtained therefrom were analysed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) to characterise the main groups of components. Additional analyses were carried out to evaluate the occurrence of PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) in the samples, as the producer claimed that these samples are free of PAHs. The main chemical components characterised in the LS were organic acids, aldehydes, esters, furans, pyrans and phenols, with phenolic compounds being the major chemical group. For the four LS tested samples, no PAHs could be detected with the method employed, which could indicate that the industrial processing was able to effectively remove this harmful class of compounds, or at least decrease its concentrations to levels below the limits of detection of the method of analysis.

KEYWORDS:

• Liposoluble liquid smoke
• food products
• phenolic compounds
• Brazilian food market
• GC/MS characterisation

Acknowledgments

The present work was funded by the Postgraduate Program in Forest Science (PPGCFL), Rio Grande do Norte Federal University (UFRN, Brazil). This study was also financed by the Office to Coordinate Improvement of University Personnel (CAPES, finance code 001) and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). We are grateful to Ibiré Negócios Sustentáveis Ltda. (www.ibire.com.br) for financial support, and as well supplying analytical material and chemical reagents.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior [104].