Added Sodium Nitrite Research Articles

Fate of Clostridium botulinum in Perishable Canned Cured Meat at Abuse Temperature

Three experiments are described wherein perishable canned cured pork was prepared with 50 or 156 μg/g added sodium nitrite and 102 or 104 botulinal spores/g. Spore germination (i.e. loss of heat resistance), cell survival, and nitrite depletion were followed during abusive storage at 27 C. Spore germination occurred readily at both levels of added nitrite. The data indicate a race between death of the germinated cells and nitrite depletion. The time at which botulinal outgrowth occurs depends upon the relative levels of residual nitrite and surviving botulinal cells.

The Depletion of Added Sodium Nitrite in Ham

AbstractThe concentration of added sodium nitrite in meat is progressively lowered during curing, cooking, and storage. The rate of this depletion appears to be exponentially related both to pH and temperature. For ham meat the rate doubles for approximately every 22°F (12°C) increase in temperature or for every 0.86 pH units decrease over the range studied. Thus the “half life”, i.e. the time required for the nitrite to be depleted to ½ of its original value (with pH kept constant at 6.2), ranged from 513 hours at 40°F (4.4°C to only 1.6 hours at 220°F (104.4°C) and fiom 4.9 hours at pH 5.6 to 12 hours at pH 6.7 when temperature was held constant at 170°F (76.7°C). This relationship appears to be independent of initial nitrite concentration over the range of conditions tested and can be expressed mathematically by the equation “log10 (½ life) = 0.65 – 0.025 (Temperature °C) + 0.35 (pH). This relationship did not apply at room temperature. In this case the rate of nitrite depletion was unexpectedly rapid unless the product was first sterilized, indicating that bacterial consumption was probably a factor.

The detction of water‐soluble inorganic iodide in thyroid

A rapid qualitative test which may be used for the detection of adulteration of thyroid with water‐soluble inorganic iodide is presented. The test consists of shaking the thyroid with saturated zinc sulfate, filtering, and adding sodium nitrite, dilute sulfuric acid and starch solution to the filtrate. A blue color develops with samples containing only 0.006 per cent inorganic iodine.