Nitrate Safety Concerns

    There has been much concern over the consumption of nitrates by the general public. Studies had shown that when nitrites combine with by products of protein (amines-in the stomach) that leads to the formation of nitrosamines which were carcinogenic (cancer causing) in laboratory animals. There was also a link that when nitrates were used to cure bacon and the latter one was fried until crispy, it helped to create nitrosamines. But the required temperatures had to be in 600 F range and meats are smoked and cooked well below 200 F so even this fact has no bearing on the use of nitrates in meats.

    Those findings started a lot of unnecessary panic in the 1970s about harmful effects of nitrates in meat on our health. Millions of dollars were spent, a lot of research was done, many researchers had spent long sleepless nights seeking fame and glory but no evidence was found that when nitrates are used within established limits they can pose any danger to our health.

    A review of all scientific literature on nitrite by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences indicates that nitrite does not directly harm us in any way. All this hoopla about danger of nitrite in our meats pales in comparison with the amounts of nitrates that are found in vegetables we consume every day. The nitrates get to them from the  fertilizers which are used in agriculture. Don’t blame sausages for the nitrates you consume, blame the farmer. It is more dangerous to one’s health to eat vegetables on a regular basis than a sausage : "Hey, doc, what about food pyramid ? Vegetables contain more nitrites than meat, can I still have my carrot ?"

Nitrates in vegatables

The following  information about nitrates in vegetables was published by MAFF, Department of Health and the Scottish Executive before April 1st 2000 when the Food Standards Agency was established.

Number 158      September 1998

MAFF UK - NITRATE IN VEGETABLES

    Vegetables contain higher concentrations of nitrate than other foods and make the major contribution to dietary intake. A survey of vegetables on sale in supermarkets was carried out in 1997 and 1998 to provide up-to-date information on nitrate concentrations to assess the health implications for UK consumers and also to inform negotiations on a review of the European Commission Regulation (EC) No. 194/97 (which sets maximum levels for nitrate in lettuce and spinach). A study on the effects of cooking on nitrate concentrations in vegetables was also carried out to provide further refinements for estimating dietary exposure.

The vegetables tested and the mean nitrate concentrations found were as follows:

Cooking by boiling reduced nitrate concentrations in most of the vegetables tested by up to 75 percent. Frying and baking did not affect nitrate concentrations in potatoes but frying caused increases in levels in onions.

Dietary intakes of mean and upper range (97.5 percentile) consumers of these vegetables are 104 mg/day and 151 mg/day, respectively. These are below the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) for nitrate of 219 mg/day for a 60 kg adult set by the European Commission's Scientific Committee for Food (SCF). There are therefore no health concerns for consumers.

 The legally set maximum limits for nitrites are :

2 pounds per 100 gallons pickle brine at the 10 % pump level in the product

1 ounce per 100 pounds meat (dry cured)

¼ ounce per 100 pounds chopped meat

    As established in 1974 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the use of nitrites, nitrates, or combinations of them cannot result in more than 200 parts per million (ppm), calculated as sodium nitrite. In 1978 the USDA prohibited the use of sodium or potassium nitrate in pumped bacon and allowed only the addition of 120 ppm of sodium nitrite or 148 ppm of potassium nitrite. Those changes apply only to pumped bacon and do not apply to dry cured bacon.

Note: 148 ppm (parts per million) is the same as 148 mg/kg

How Much Nitrite is Dangerous

    According to the report prepared in 1972 for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by Battele – Columbus Laboratories and Department of Commerce, Springfield, VA 22151 – the fatal dose of potassium nitrate for humans is in the range of 30 to 35 grams (about two tablespoons) consumed as a single dose; the fatal dose of sodium nitrite is in the range of 22 to 23 milligrams per kilogram of body weight.

    A 156 lbs adult (71 kg) would have to consume, at once  14.3 pounds (6.5 kg) of cured meat containing 200 ppm of sodium nitrite. Taking under consideration that nitrite is rapidly converted to nitric oxide during the curing process, the 14.3 lbs amount will have to be doubled or even tripled. The equivalent amount of pure sodium nitrite consumed will be 1.3 g. As nitrite is mixed with large amounts of salt, it would be impossible to swallow it at least from a culinary point of view.

    As our most popular cures are in a pink color it would be very hard to mistake them for common salt. Even if  Instacure 1, was misplaced in such an unusual way the amount of salt needed to consume as a single dose will even be larger as there are only 156 ppm of sodium nitrite in it. That coresponds to eating of 18.26 lbs of meat at one sitting. And it will have to be eaten very fast - clearly impossible, even by me.

The only way to consume a fatal dose will be to mistake pure nitrite (it is white) for salt but the general public has no access to it and a home sausage maker uses pink cure mixes which as explained in examples above are quite safe.

Note : 1g of nitrite is generally accepted as the life threatning dose
 

The following information comes from the book “Meat Through the Microscope” written by C.Robert Moulton, Ph.D. and W.Lee Lewis, Ph.D. and published by Institute of Meat Packing, The University of Chicago:

    Soaking reduced the curing agents in most of the sub-sections (sliced ham-our note) but especially in the butt and face sections. Smoking had little effect on the salt, nitrate and sugar content but the nitrite content was decreased. Baking reduced the percentages of all curing ingredients but the nitrite was so greatly reduced that the highest value found was only 11 parts per million. Table 66 gives the average composition of the five whole hams and shows clearly the effects of soaking, smoking and baking.

Effect of Operations on Composition of Hams

    To emphasize the importance of these results, and especially of the very great destruction of nitrite by baking, one should remember in contrast that sweet-pickle solutions will contain from 500 to 1000 parts of nitrite per million and that the surface of hams removed from such pickles, especially at the ragged edges of the butt, will most certainly contain over 200 p.p.m. However, after soaking and smoking the average nitrite content is well within the prescribed limits. In the survey summarized above only two out of 10 surface sections showed over 200 p.p.m. of nitrite. In spite of the figures given in the first part of this paragraph, no subsection of surface meat showed more than 11 p.p.m. after baking.

By the time meats are consumed, they contain less then 50 parts per million of nitrite. It is said that commercially prepared meats in the USA contain about 10 ppm of nitrite when bought in a supermarket.

And we hope that we have proven above that all this talk about the danger of nitrite makes very little sense at all. If we follow USDA recommendations, the nitrates/nitrites are perfectly safe.

More information on curing can be found at: Curing

Page edited on September 14, 2006.

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