Total nitrogen content and its influence on ethyl carbamate incidence in cachaça

João Henrique Do Nascimento E Silva,Sérgio Ricardo Rodrigues De Medeiros,Simone Daniela Sartorio De Medeiros,Alessandra Lopes De Oliveira,Marta Regina Verruma-Bernardi,André Eduardo De Souza Belluco

doi:10.1590/1678-992x-2020-0281

João Henrique Do Nascimento E Silva, Sérgio Ricardo Rodrigues De Medeiros + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-992x-2020-0281

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Abstract

Cachaça is a typical Brazilian spirit of significant economic and social relevance. The spirit may contain organic and inorganic contaminants that impair its quality, such as ethyl carbamate (EC), which is potentially carcinogenic. The study of factors that cause EC incidence is extremely important to produce cachaça with good physicochemical and sensory quality and for public health reasons. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze and quantify nitrogen (N) in sugarcane juice and correlate it with the EC levels, with copper (Cu) as precursor, in cachaça from stills, produced from the sugar of three different sugarcane varieties (RB857515, RB966928 and RB855453). We used the plantation systems without fertilization and with organic and conventional fertilization. The EC and Cu levels were below the legislation threshold and the N levels were correlated with EC formation in different planting systems.

Highlights

The ethyl carbamate (EC) and Cu levels were below the legislation threshold and the N levels were correlated with EC formation in different planting systems
Ethyl carbamate (EC) is a compound popularly known as urethane, belonging to the group of organic compounds considered as ethyl esters of carbamic acid (CH3NO2)
All spirits produced from these juices presented EC contents below 210 μg L–1, threshold of the Brazilian legislation

Summary

Introduction

Ethyl carbamate (EC) is a compound popularly known as urethane, belonging to the group of organic compounds considered as ethyl esters of carbamic acid (CH3NO2). EC has several commercial applications, such as solubilizer for pesticides, cosmetics, and drug constituent (Ghanayem, 2007). The margin of exposure (MOE) is applied to assess the risk of carcinogens. MOE greater than or equal to 10,000 is considered to have a low level of risk to public health. The MOE ranges from 4,294 to 5,058 (Lachenmeier et al, 2010). The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), based on distinct studies that described EC toxicity, listed it in class 2B, the group of carcinogenic substances (Alexander et al, 2007)

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