Bridging traditional and scientific knowledge on reindeer meat smoking - a pilot study.

Smoking reindeer meat in a traditional Sámi lávvu (tent) is a knowledgeable and long tradition for food preservation among Sámi reindeer herders. However, due to the formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) during smoking, scientists associate smoked meat with human health risks. PAH cont...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International Journal of Circumpolar Health
Main Authors: Krarup Hansen, Kia, Turi, Issat, Sundset, Monica A, Mathiesen, Svein D
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Atypon 2022
Subjects:
Co-production
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH)
reindeer husbandry
smoked reindeer meat
smoking temperature
traditional smoking
wood smoking
Circumpolar Health
Human health
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1080/22423982.2022.2073056
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35585785
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9122366/
Description
Summary:Smoking reindeer meat in a traditional Sámi lávvu (tent) is a knowledgeable and long tradition for food preservation among Sámi reindeer herders. However, due to the formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) during smoking, scientists associate smoked meat with human health risks. PAH contamination of smoked food depends on the smoking method, the temperature and the wood species. The smoking temperature and the PAH contaminations of Sámi traditional lávvu-smoked reindeer products yet remain uninvestigated. To remedy this knowledge gap, we developed a unique co-produced lávvu-laboratory pilot study for temperature measurements and PAH analysis of smoked reindeer meat with different Arctic wood species (willow, birch and juniper) and plant parts (logs and twigs). Our study confirms reindeer herders understanding, that birch wood, and especially birch twigs, generate higher smoking temperatures than willow. Except reindeer meat smoked with birch twigs, PAH levels of analysed reindeer meat cuts were lower than EU recommended maximum levels. However, all smoked reindeer fat samples showed much elevated PAH contaminations. Our results demonstrate the importance of co-production including both scientific and traditional knowledge in research for increased understanding of Indigenous peoples' traditional food smoking and to insure healthy traditional smoked Arctic products.

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