Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I'm in preliminary stage of researching a topic for my science fair. I'm interested researching what would be the optimal temperature to cook meat to avoid high level of carcinogenic heterocyclic amines level formation in food which could be a high risk for cancer. My question is

1. How can I measure heterocyclic amines level in precooked and cooked food? What tools would I need?
2. How can I conclude that what the right level of heterocyclic amines that can be consumed without no risk to the human avoid or low cancer risk

I really like this subject but very confused with how to conduct the experiment

Thanks

First, I want to say that this is a great idea! However, the rest of my response is perhaps more discouraging.

The authors of this paper did something very similar: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2850217/

The method of analysis was liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry and the isolation procedures and analysis were not trivial or simple.

This group used a slightly different method, again, quite involved: http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/91/23/2038.full

More information: https://books.google.com/books?id=UvA1W ... ry&f=false

What kinds of equipment do you have access to? You could try to contact a commercial food testing laboratory and see if one can help you. One example: http://foodtestinglab.com/

As for what levels are safe, in the US no federal guidelines have yet been issued on this point, as there is no consensus what safe levels of exposure would be over a normal human lifespan: http://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/caus ... -sheet#r19

Sorry I can't be of more help,
Colin