## 1 Introduction  
Traditional meat products have always been highly valued for their taste. The production of dry-cured smoked ham in a traditional way using open fire ensures the unique experience of smoky aroma. The popularization of original and organic products resulted in returning to traditional production methods, mainly by small family businesses. Traditional meat products are extremely wanted, the demand and supply are always high. The production of high-quality Slavonska sunka takes a certain amount of time. The formation of characteristic aroma, taste and smell of Slavonska sunka is a timely process, but consumers appreciate the final outcome. Slavonska sunka is a traditional smoked dry-cured product that has a great potential for receiving a protected geographical indication (PGI) according to the European Commission of European Union (EU) legislative recommendation. However, due to the smoking procedure using open fire, there is a high risk that it may contain certain amounts of different polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). PAHs are general contaminants in smoked foods such as meat and fish [1, 2]. Many traditional meat products from European counties (Portugal, Spain, Greece, etc.) receive a lot of attention because they might contain PAHs [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]. [PERSON] al. conducted a research on Portuguese [1], and [PERSON] et al. [7; 8] conducted research on traditional sausages originating from Serbia. They concluded that the traditional sausages smoked in industrial conditions showed lower PAH contamination. On the other hand, [PERSON] et al. investigated PAHs in Portuguese [3] and [PERSON] et al. [5; 6] in Spanish traditional sausages exposed to traditional smoking procedure (open fire) and reported relatively high PAH16 content. Incomplete wood combustion during the smoking procedure can result in significantly higher polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon amounts than those set by legislation. They pose a threat for human health because, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) [9], some of them are carcinogenic and mutagenic [10; 11]. All food processing that includes grilling, cooking, smoking or roasting has a tendency to increase PAH contamination of processed food [12; 13; 14]. The most common source of PAHs in food is smoking (a type of wood and its moisture content, casing), but environmental contamination (exhaustion fumes, wildfire, and other combustion-prone processes) also significantly contribute to the contamination of food [15; 16]. This means that PAH content in meat products can be related to the contamination of feed used in pig breeding. For that reason, the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) defined 16 PAHs (naphthalene (Nap), acenaphthylene (Anl), acenaphthrene (Ane), fluorene (Flu), phenanthrene (Phen), anthracene (Ant), fluoranthene (Flt), pyrene (Pyr), benz[a]anthracene (BaA), chrysene (Chry), benzo[b]fluoranthene (BBF), benzo[k]fluoranthene (BkF), benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene (InP), dibenz[a,h]anthracene (DahA) and benzo[g,h,i]perylene (BghiP)) (PAH16) as priority environmental pollutants [17]. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), on the other hand, defined that the concentrations of BaP and the sum of the concentrations of four PAHs: BaP, BaA, BbF and Chr (PAH4) [18], should be a reference when determining PAHs in food. According to the European Commission (EU) Regulation no. 1881/2006, 835/2011 and XX/2019 [19; 20; 21], the maximum permissible concentration of BaP in meat products is 2 ug/kg and the sum PAH4 concentrations should not exceed 12 ug/kg. However, since traditional meat products are prone to higher levels of PAHs, a special regulation regarding PAH concentrations in such products has been issued by the European Commission (EU) [21] in which the maximum BaP is set to 5 ug/kg, and the sum of the PAH4 is limited to 30 ug/kg.