Effect of Dietary Polyphenols on PhIP Formation and Oxidative Reactions in Pan-Fried Chicken Patties

Thermal processing of meat at elevated temperatures induces the generation of heterocyclic aromatic amines of food safety concern, among which 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo [4,5-b] pyridine (PhIP) predominates. This study explored the impact of five polyphenols (caffeic acid, curcumin, ellagic acid, quercetin, and resveratrol) added at 0.05%, 0.1%, and 0.2% (w/w) on oxidative reactions, precursor availability, PhIP formation, and quality characteristics of chicken meat cooked by pan-frying. Polyphenol incorporation significantly enhanced moisture retention and lowered cooking loss in the samples with quercetin added at 0.2%. Color analysis showed that most polyphenols increased lightness (L*) while curcumin significantly enhanced yellowness (b*). Redness (a*) decreased for all treatments except quercetin and caffeic acid. All polyphenols reduced the thermal consumption of PhIP precursors (glucose and creatine) with quercetin at 0.2% resulting in residual glucose and creatine levels of 0.83 and 2.08 mg/g, respectively. Quercetin showed the greatest reduction in lipid oxidation with TBARS inhibition up to 67.79% and the highest decrease in carbonyl content (43.63%). All polyphenols significantly suppressed PhIP formation with quercetin at 0.2% achieving the highest inhibition of PhIP (61.47%), followed by ellagic acid (53.65%), resveratrol (46.15%), and caffeic acid (45.46%) at the same concentration, while curcumin at 0.05% showed the weakest effect (10.25%). The radical scavenging activity of polyphenols did not strongly correlate with their ability to inhibit PhIP formation; correlation analysis revealed that PhIP inhibition was strongly correlated with the extent of lipid and protein oxidation. These findings suggest that dietary polyphenols can reduce PhIP formation in fried chicken patties.