Results are reported of a collaborative study on the determination of benzo(a)pyrene in smoked meat. To this end four meat samples were analyzed for concentrations < or > 0.6 .mu.g benzo(a)pyrene/kg sample. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) are a well known class of environmental carcinogens and in the past benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) often has been used as an indicator for their presence and even as a numerical parameter for the carcinogenic potency of environmental matter, although numerous other PAH also exhibit a comparable biological activity in various systems. This has lead to national regulations in some countries (1). For instance, in FRG a concentration of 1 .mu.g BaP/kg has been set to be the upper limit in smoked meat. Accordingly, a rapid method is required to check smoked food for its benzo(a)pyrene concentration. A method previously described (2) for the determination of BaP, based on thin-layer-chromatographical comparison of BaP of a meat extract with authentic BaP-concentrations, has been optimized and applied in an international exercise by several laboratories.