Abstract
Aims: This study aimed to determine influence of post-harvest treatments on PAH's formation in raw cocoa.Study Design: A total of 370 samples were analyzed during 2014 and 2015 cocoa harvesting.Methodology: A method based on a solid-liquid and liquid-liquid extraction followed by an HPLC-Fluorescence assay was optimized and validated for PAHs analysis in cocoa.Results: Whatever the post-harvest treatment, cocoa PAH's contents were under 6.19 ± 0.30 µg.kg-1. Then, after traditional warehouse storage of raw cocoa, PAHs contents ranged from 35.11 ± 3.30 to 39.53 ± 0.75 µg.kg-1 above EU standards. Artisanal smoked dried cocoa recorded the highest PAH contents comprising between 35.06 ± 0.42 and 172.22 ± 14.79 µg.kg-1. Also, monitoring of PAH concentrations during make process of cocoa into derived products has shown that shelling reduces the initial contamination of cocoa beans by more than 90%.Conclusion: The use of artificial drying methods and storage conditions in the presence of smoke-induced and increasing PAHs to a critical level. Particularly, drying techniques using smoke caused considerable accumulation of PAHs in raw cocoa.