Reducing effects of tea marinades on heterocyclic aromatic amines formation in chicken thigh meat: focus on white and oolong tea

Heterocyclic aromatic amines (HAAs) are hazardous carcinogenic/mutagenic compounds formed during heat exposure of meat products. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the efficiency of white tea and oolong tea marinations on reducing HAAs formation. Raw chicken thigh meat samples were marinated with various concentrations (0%, 0.5% and 1%) of white tea and oolong tea, and pan fried at 150, 200 and 250 °C for 7 min on both sides. Ten HAAs were analyzed, and various levels of IQx (up to 1.56 ng/g), IQ (up to 0.80 ng/g), MeIQx (up to 0.63 ng/g), MeIQ (up to 3.32 ng/g), 7,8-DiMeIQx (up to 3.75 ng/g), 4,8-DiMeIQx (up to 0.55 ng/g), Trp-P-2 (up to 11.43 ng/g), PhIP (up to 28.35 ng/g) and AαC (up to 0.21 ng/g) were quantified in cooked samples. The total HAA levels ranged from 0.55 to 29.33 ng/g across all samples analyzed. Cooking temperature, tea marinade type and concentration affected individual and total HAA levels. White tea and oolong tea marinades had reducing effects on total HAAs at 150 °C (up to 75.8% and 88.4%, respectively) and 250 °C (up to 75.6% and 94.4%, respectively), whereas only oolong tea showed inhibitory effects at 200 °C (up to 18.9%).