Principal Component Analysis of Polycarbon Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Meat Products Cooked Across Three Countries

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are toxic thermal contaminants which accumulate in meat products during high-temperature culinary operations. With the aim of evaluating the chemical variation and regional distribution of these carcinogenic compounds, published concentration profiles of 16 EPA-priority PAHs in cooked meat and sausage samples originating from Iran, Nigeria and Poland were used to perform a meta-analysis. Following data preprocessing and variable reduction, the sparse reporting was refined, reducing the dataset to 12 representative PAH variables followed by multivariate outlier diagnostic screening. Principal component analysis (PCA) was then executed on standardized correlation matrices which revealed that the first two principal components accounted for 66.2% of the total dataset variance. Distinct geographical clustering was observed with PC1 primarily discriminating Iranian samples from Polish and Nigerian products, while PC2 further separated Iranian and Nigerian groups. These patterns reflect differences in regional preparation techniques, such as high-temperature direct-flam grilling compared to traditional smoking processes. These results thus, demonstrate that multivariate chemometric modeling effectively classifies meat contamination patterns across international origins and highlights the significant influence of regional cooking methods on PAH accumulation.