Recently, it was proved that some carcinogenic, mutagenic compounds such as heterocyclic aromatic amines (HCAs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and acrylamide (AA) formed during the cooking and roasting of foods, are known to induce tumors in rodent bioassays and may thus contribute to human cancer risk. A survey of some local meals were checked using the cytokinesis-block micronucleus assay on human lymphocytes in vitro, the mutagenicity values expressed as the ratio of binucleated (BN) to mononucleotide cells (MN). Different samples were collected from local markets including brown roasted poultry, brown or black parts of grilled fish,chips(potato,riceand maize), rusted brown layer of local bread and normal kids' candy. The results showed increased frequency of micronuclei formation in human lymphocytes in vitro from most of the tested samples. The BN/ MN ratios were: roasted brown parts in potato chips (44.8), roasted poultry parts(30.5), grilled fish(18.5),bread(14.3),whereas,lowervalueswere recorded in potato chips with cheese flavour(12.6),candykids'(12.5)andcrispscorn-riceforkids(5.8).
The present work introduces alarm to re-evaluate the procedures used for preparation of ready meals and calls for the abandon of ingestion of brown parts of food during eating. Further studies are recommended to extrapolate this in vitro study on animal models in vivo.