4 methods of extraction of mutagens from fried ground beef were compared for total mutagen recovery and chromatographic profile of isolated substances. A method which employs Amberlite XAD-2 resin to isolate mutagenic activity from an initial aqueous acid extract of fried beef was found to yield approx. 4 times more activity than other aqueous or organic solvent extraction procedures. Chromatographic profiles of mutagenic extracts isolated by the 4 methods suggest that the XAD-2 resin method does not recover different mutagens, but is primarily a more efficient isolation procedure. The resin method is rapid, inexpensive, simple, and requires approx. half the time of the other methods.