Nitrosamines Case Study

900 Words2 Pages

3.0 OCCURRENCE OF NITROSAMINE IN FOOD AND BEVERAGES
3.1 Nitrosamines in meat and meat products
Preservatives like nitrite (KNO2/E249 and NaNO2/E250) and indirectly nitrate (NaNO3/E251 and KNO3/E252) are added in meat products such as bacon, cured meat, salami, sausages and canned meat products to avoid the growth of putrefactive and pathogenic bacteria such as Clostridium botulinum. Besides, nitrite acts as a processing adjuvant that promotes the colour formation, delay lipid oxidation and provide a typical cured meat flavor (Skibsted, 2011). Many cured meat products contain added spices containing nitrite for curing has given rise to the formation of N-nitrosopiperidine (NPIP) and other nitrosamines in the premixes. Nitrite reacts with various components present in muscle and converted to nitrosating agent, NO+ which reacts with biogenic amines to form carcinogenic N-nitrosamines. Biogenic amines are a basic nitrogenous compounds that formed by decarboxylation of free amino acids. They can found in high concentration and accumulation occurs in dry fermented products where related to the action of decarboxylase-positive bacteria and meat enzymes during fermentation and ripening (Mey et al., 2014).

3.1.1 Nitrosamines formation in meat …show more content…

Several of the nitrosamines (R2N-N=O) are carcinogenic and high intake of processed meat products such as bacon, hot dogs and red meat raises the risk of colon cancer (Herrmann, 2014). Nitrosamines formed when nitrites or nitrates that added as preservatives react with a secondary or tertiary amine that as part of structure of protein in meat. Nitrites or nitrates formed nitrosating agent through various reactions and react with amines to form nitrosamines. The general reaction is summarized in figure

Open Document