Heterocyclic amine levels in cooked meat and the implication for New Zealanders

This paper was presented to an expert workshop on meat intake and colorectal cancer risk, held in Adelaide, Australia on 4 December 1998, as a contribution to discussion of the possible role of heterocyclic amines (HCAs) in colorectal cancer. HCAs, which are genotoxic and carcinogenic to experimental animals, are formed in fish, meat and meat residues under certain cooking conditions which are relevant to human lifestyle practices. The most important variables contributing to the formation of HCAs are: cooking temperature (>150 degrees C), cooking time (>2 min), cooking method (frying, oven grilling/broiling, barbecuing), and meat type (e.g. sausage < whole meat). Humans will be exposed to HCAs from the consumption of meat or fish cooked by these methods and from the consumption of gravy prepared from pan residues. Approximately one-third of the meat consumed on a daily basis in New Zealand is cooked by methods likely to result in the formation of HCAs. When intake estimates are combined with animal cancer potency data, the greatest contributor to cancer risk is from the consumption of chicken. Red meat is no more implicated than any other meat type. Although the role of HCA in human cancer is yet to be clearly established, exposure can be minimized by lifestyle choices.