Another thing that the agriculture dept at the University of Cornell has found, is that many common herbs and spices such as basil, onions, peppers and others to numerous to list, but commonly associated with the cooking of meat (including BBQ) in most parts of the world actually bind with the "known carcinogens" during cooking and digestion, rendering them harmless.

Or in other words , grilling a steak- but just a plain steak and eating it by itself may in fact not be great for you. But who does that? BBQ and most other meat preperation for that matter is almost always accompanied by herbs spices and such.

The same also applies to spoilage and many food borne illness. Or in other words, to reinforce what most of you already know, if generations of people have been perfectly healthy eating something, especially cultural dishes, theres usually a reason for it.

If your the worrying type, just do a little research on what types of things something is usually prepared with. If you adhere to that, especially if its rooted in truly old-skool traditions, chances are its perfectly healthy.