The highest total content of 13 US-EPA PAHs was determined in sausages stuffed in natural casings and smoked in traditional conditions at both examined periods, at the end of drying, as well as at the end of storage period (220聽渭g/kg and 495聽渭g/kg, respectively). The lowest content of these compounds was determined in sausages stuffed in collagen casings and smoked in industrial conditions, also at both examined periods (31.3聽渭g/kg; 54.1聽渭g/kg respectively). Phenanthrene (A1-120; A2-119; B2-37.6 and B4-13.1聽渭g/kg) and acenaphthylene (B1-45.0 and B3-18.3聽渭g/kg) were the most abundant PAHs in all examined sausage samples at the end of drying period, while at the end of storage period the most abundant PAHs were phenanthrene (A1-201; A2-107; B2-49.4 and B3-38.7聽渭g/kg) and anthracene (B1-34.4 and B4-20.1聽渭g/kg). Benzo[a]pyrene, whose maximum allowed content in smoked meat products is 5聽渭g/kg (EC No. 1881/2006), was below the limit of detection in all examined samples. Also, PAH4 (sum content of benz[a]anthracene, chrysene, benzo[b]fluoranthene and benzo[a]pyrene) a more suitable indicator for the occurrence of PAHs, with maximum allowed content in smoked meat products of 30聽渭g/kg (EC No. 835/2011), was below the limit of detection in all examined samples.
According to the results obtained in this study, traditional dry fermented sausage Petrovsk谩 klob谩sa, smoked in traditional and industrial conditions was safe for its consumers regarding European regulation on PAHs content.