ABSTRACT:
Nitrates and nitrites are currently authorized as food additives. These additives function as preservatives in food by inhabiting microorganisms' growth and they are both used extensively to enhance the flavor, fix the color and extend the shelf life of processed meat. Highly intake of nitrite and nitrate with food leads to several risks. Nitrite reacts with secondary amines to form nitrosamines, which are considered as carcinogenic agents. Nitrite react with hemoglobin and produce methemoglobin that is enabled to transport oxygen at cellular level. 7 types of processed meats have been examined using spectrophotometric method. The method produced linear response for nitrite over the concentration range of 1-4 ppm. The method was found to be precise since the RSD% for intraday and inter day precision studies were less than 10%. Nitrite LOD and LOQ were 0.1 ppm and 0.32 ppm, respectively, while nitrate LOD and LOQ were 0.25 ppm and 0.8 ppm, respectively. Nitrate and nitrite recoveries were 99.6 % and 99.7 %, respectively. The concentrations of nitrite and nitrate in processed meat products ranged between 0-98.5 ppm and 1.2-139.6 ppm respectively.