Determination of several common disinfection by-products in frozen foods

Disinfected water and/or disinfectants are commonly used by the freezing industry in such processes as sanitising, washing, blanching, cooling and transporting the final product. For this reason, disinfection by-products (DBPs) can be expected in frozen foods. This study focused on the presence of DBPs in a wide variety of frozen vegetables, meats and fish. For this purpose, the 14 halogenated DBPs more prevalent in disinfected water were selected (four trihalomethanes, seven haloacetic acids, two haloacetonitriles and trichloronitromethane). Up to seven DBPs were found in vegetables, whereas only four DBPs were present in meats and fish, and at lower concentrations, since their contact with disinfected water is lower than in frozen vegetables. It is important to emphasise that trichloronitromethane (the most abundant nitrogenous DBP in disinfected water) was found for the first time in foods. Finally, it was concluded that the freezing process can keep the compounds stable longer than other preservation processes (viz. sanitising, canning) and, therefore, frozen foods present higher DBP concentrations than other food categories (minimally processed vegetables, or canned vegetables and meats).