Trends of research on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in food: A 20-year perspective from 1997 to 2017

Abstract

Abstract Background Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are widely found in nature and accumulated, enriched, or produced in food through multiple paths, posing a great risk to human health. With more and more studies established on PAHs, it is essential to sort out the publications, analyze hotspots and indicate emerging trends as well. Scope and approach We investigated 1110 studies originating from the Web of Science Core Collection in the field of “Food Science Technology” from the year 1997–2017. These studies were analyzed using HistCite and CiteSpace. This review included the trends and comparisons of literature outputs, star papers and hotspots, describing the emerging trend of research on PAHs in food. Key findings and conclusions The results indicated that the number of studies on PAHs in foods has been growing at an average annual rate of 13% from the initial 11 articles to 127 articles. The high yield of PAH-related research in Europe may be attributed to concerns related to olive oil and smoked meats. Besides, hotspots also included the formation of PAHs in food processing, the concentration of PAHs in edible oils and smoked products, and the GC-MS method for detecting PAHs. Based on articles we have analyzed, it is worth mentioning that determination of PAHs and derivatives still needs improvement. Moreover, with collective efforts from all researchers, we hope that more progress will be made in the limit standards and toxicological evaluation for PAH derivatives, as well as methods for the green removal of PAHs in food.