POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS IN MEDICINAL HERBS: ANALYTICAL METHOD DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are among the most toxic compounds known to man. Several PAHs are proven to be carcinogenic, mutagenic and teratogenic. Due to their wide distribution in the environment and their toxicity, it is considered important to monitor the levels of these compounds in foodstuff. PAHs have been detected in many foods including plant-based such as vegetable oils, cereal grains, herbs, spices, teas and supplements. As the awareness for the healthy lifestyle has increased globally, the intake of medicinal herbs as tea and spices has also grown immensely. Therefore, even stronger emphasis must be made to monitor the toxic levels of PAHs in herbs. The legislations of the maximum concentrations of certain contaminants in food of the Republic of Serbia included PAHs values in dry herbs only by the end of 2019 (Official Gazette RS, No. 81/2019) in comparison to European Commission Regulation dating from 2011. Therefore, herein we focused on analytical method development for PAHs determination in medicinal herbs.