Content of N-nitroso compounds and mutagenicity in 35 Japanese foods after treating with nitrite.

Abstract

Various Japanese foods were treated with 22 mM nitrite at pH 3 for 1 hr at 37°C. Ethyl acetate extracts of the nitrosation mixtures were examined for their total NC content and mutagenicity to Salmonella typhimurium TA 100 to search for foods which formed a considerable amount of N-nitroso compounds (NCs) but showed no mutagenicity. Most of the foods (32/35) formed NCs at levels in the range of 22-4758μmol N-NO/kg after the nitrite treatment. Among these foods, fermented products had a high level of NCs (mean = 952 μmol N-NO/kg), vegetables, cereals and fruits had a moderate level of NCs (mean = 225 μmol N-NO/kg), and meat and fish had a low level of NCs (mean = 99 μmol N-NO/kg). Only five kinds of food, i.e., soy sauce, salted Chinese cabbage, cabbage, Japanese radish and sausage, showed mutagenicity to Salmonella typhimurium TA 100. These results imply that considerably large amounts of various precursors of non-mutagenic NCs are present in foods, especially in some fermented products and citrus fruits.