LEVELS OF BENZO[A]PYRENE (BAP)IN 'MOZZARELLA DI BUFALA CAMPANA'CHEESE SMOKED ACCORDING TO DIFFERENT PROCEDURES"

The content of benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, was determined by HPLC/FL in ???mozzarella di bufala campana??? cheese, a stretched cooked cheese, either experimentally smoked according to traditional procedures, using straw, cardboard, and wood shavings or aromatized with smoke flavoring. The BaP residues, researched also in cheese samples sold at retail, were detected in the rind, in the core, and in the slice (outer and inner parts).In the cheeses experimentally smoked with straw and cardboard the BaP levels, ranging from 0.38 to 2.12 íg kg-1 and from 0.46 to 2.40 íg kg-1, respectively, were statistically higher than those of the cheeses smoked with wood shavings and aromatized with liquid smoke (from 0.19 to 0.80 íg kg-1 and from 0.18 to 0.50 íg kg-1, respectively). However the cheeses treated with liquid smoke flavor showed a BaP content exceeding the level allowed by the European Union .