Effect of cooking on the formation of N-nitrosodimethylamine in Korean dried seafood products

Only N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) was detected when N-nitrosamines (NA) were analysed in seven dried seafood products, either uncooked or cooked. The cooking methods used were a briquet fire, a gas range, an electric oven, a microwave oven, a steam cooker and an electric coil cooker. The contents of NDMA ranged from 1.0 to 46.9 μg kg^-1 in uncooked products. When these samples were cooked, regardless of the cooking method, the content of NDMA tended to increase, ranging from 1.1 to 630.5 μg kg^-1. In general, indirect heating such as a steam cooker and a microwave oven, as compared with direct heating such as a gas range and a briquet fire, caused less increase in NDMA during cooking.