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Smoke (tuxedo) It is a method that preserves food and prevents it from being damaged or contaminated. The smoky flavor is the result of the production of hydrocarbons and phenols which have antimicrobial and antioxidant properties in foods. These chemicals originate when foods are exposed to burning wood at low temperatures creating incomplete combustion. The two basic methods of traditional smoking are: cold smoking and hot smoking. The main method used by the food industry is to impart smoky flavor to food through 'artificial' smoking or liquid smoke.

The hydrocarbons and phenols They mix with the fat of foods that are smoked, but are not soluble in aqueous media. In this particular, foods with a smoked flavor (liquid smoke) have fewer hydrocarbons compared to those smoked in wood. The purification process during condensate manufacturing results in an aqueous environment that makes mixing with hydrocarbons difficult. Still, they retain something. The foods that are commonly smoked are: beers, fish, cheeses, eggs, meats, hams, sausages, spices and garlic. 

Risks to human health

Human beings are exposed to hydrocarbons through different routes, but food is the main route of ingestion of these chemicals, particularly in non-smokers. According to Curtis and Sergent (2019) in their article Hydrocarbon Toxicity, exposure to carcinogenic compounds such as hydrocarbons It is responsible for numerous human health problems. They mention, for example: eye and respiratory tract irritation, systemic toxicity, chemical pneumonitis, severe necrotizing pneumonia, metabolic acidosis, chemical burns to the skin in severe exposures, among others. 

The ingestion of hydrocarbons can cause irritation of the gastrointestinal tract and damage to the intestinal mucosa, leading to nausea, vomiting with or without blood, and abdominal pain. It can also have short- or long-term effects on the Central Nervous System. For example, difficulty speaking, disorientation, headache, dizziness, lack of voluntary coordination of muscle movements, nausea, hallucinations, agitation, sudden loss of consciousness and postural tone, as well as violent behavior and seizures.

Cancer
Diet has been found to be responsible for 88% to 98% exposure to these chemicals in humans. Some studies indicate that the consumption of smoked foods (particularly fish) are responsible or partly responsible for the high incidence of gastric cancer in Japan and Korea. A study published in 2019 in the journal Science of the Total Environment found that "exposure to hydrocarbons "Through food, it is a potential source of the high level of cancer in the southwestern region of China." 

A study carried out in two locations in southwestern Nigeria and published in 2019 in the journal Journal of Food Composition and Analysis indicated "a possible risk of developing cancer through the consumption of smoked protein foods (meat, cow skin, fish and crayfish)” in that population. Among the hydrocarbons associated with cancer are benzo[a]pyrene, benzo[k]fluoranthene, pyrene, acenaphthylene and naphthalene. 

Carmen M. Pérez Velázquez