Survey of nitrite content in foods from north-east China

Abstract

This study reports a survey of nitrite in a variety of foods consumed in north-east China and estimates the intake of nitrite for the north-east Chinese consumer. A total of 642 food categories including rice and rice products, flour and flour products, soybean and products, vegetables, fruit, preserved vegetables, cured meat products, dairy products, fish products, salt, and soy sauce were analysed for their content of nitrite. Nitrite content was quite different both between different food categories and within the same food category, ranging from not determined (n.d.) to 19.7 mg kg−1. A great variation in the content of nitrite was found for all the food products. The average content of nitrite was highest in cured meat products (14.3 mg kg−1). Next to that, the nitrite content was high in the order of preserved vegetables (4.1 mg kg−1), soybean products (3.5 mg kg−1), and dairy products (1.9 mg kg−1). The lowest average values of nitrite were detected in soy sauce, rice and rice products, salt and fish products, the contents being 0.1, 0.3, 0.3, and 0.6 mg kg−1. Calculations on the basis of these results and including dietary surveys show that the average intake of nitrite in north-east China from food was 0.03 mg kg−1 body weight for an average Chinese person weighing 60 kg, and the data are lower than the established acceptable daily intake (ADI) for nitrite. Cured meat products are normally the major contributor to average nitrite intake of the north-east Chinese population. The second contributor is vegetables.