Abstract
Twenty six commonly consumed food items were randomly selected from four grocery stores of major chains in three U.S. metropolitan areas (Tampa, Fl; Minneapolis, MN; and Los Angeles, CA) during the spring season of 2,000. Sampled products were shipped with frozen ice packs by overnight express delivery service to Covance Laboratories in Madison, WI, for analysis for nitrate and nitrite by ion exchange chormatography. These samplings and analyses were conducted to provide current information on the nitrate and nitrite content of commonly consumed non-meat products in the American diet, in order to provide perspective on how the nitrate and nitrite content of cured pork and other cured meat/poultry products contribute to overall nitrate and nitrite ingestion by Americans. The results of this study confirm that a wide range of foods contain substantial amounts of nitrate, and low levels of nitrite. Nitrate was detected in all 26 products sampled, with 15 products containing average nitrate concentrations greater that 100 ppm, and four of those product having levels greater than 1000 ppm. There was frequently wide variation in nitrate concentration among different samples of a particular food. Nitrite was found to be present in 19 of the products examined, but all had average concentrations of 12 ppm or lower (8 of the 19 averaged less than 1 ppm). In comparison, a 1997 report by Cassens and co-workers at the University of Wisconsin described the sampling of cured meats (bacon, sliced ham, wieners and bologna) produced by leading U.S. manufacturers for residual nitrate and nitrite content. Those studies found residual nitrite to average between 5 and 10 ppm (range 0 to 48 ppm) across three trials, with no residual nitrate detected in any of the products tested in the one trial which included nitrate analysis (10 ppm nitrate was detection limit of procedure used).
