Many people turn pale at the mention of nitrite.
Speaking of which, pickles cannot be eaten, thousands of boiling water cannot be drunk, and leftovers overnight can cause cancer… In fact, there are many misunderstandings about nitrite here.
There are four main points in general:
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Nitrate in food is safe;
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Nitrate will become nitrite under certain conditions.
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Excessive intake of nitrite by mistake will lead to acute poisoning.
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Nitrite is not a carcinogen, nitrosamine produced under specific conditions is a carcinogen.
Then, let’s look at a few common questions.
Can drinking [thousands of boiling water] be poisoned by nitrite?
Not really.
Commonly known as “thousands of boiling water”, refers to boiling water for a long time or repeatedly boiling water.
Indeed, tap water contains nitrate and nitrite, and after repeated boiling, some nitrates will be converted into nitrite due to high temperature and lack of oxygen.
However, tests from the laboratory show that:
The nitrite content in tap water is 0.007 mg/L, 0.021 mg/L after boiling once and 0.038 mg/L after boiling 20 times. After boiling many times, it is still far lower than the national standard for drinking water (≤ 1 mg/L) and is completely safe.
If the repeatedly boiled water really cannot be drunk, how dare you drink all kinds of old fire soup?
Do leftovers have to exceed the standard of nitrite?
Not necessarily.
It is vegetables that produce nitrite overnight.
Nitrate and nitrite are found in all plant foods, but the content of nitrite is not high under normal circumstances.
Nitrate in leafy vegetables is relatively high, especially in dark green leafy vegetables. In leftovers, only vegetables with high nitrate content can produce high nitrite only after long-term storage.
However, there is not much nitrate in unprocessed animal food.
Therefore, we often recommend that we would rather have meat dishes than vegetables.
- Meat dishes can be stored for 1-2 days without harmful substances as long as they are thoroughly heated before eating. Vegetables, it is not recommended to have more than 24 hours left, cold dishes should be more careful.
Does pickled vegetables and pickled vegetables necessarily exceed the standard of nitrite?
Not necessarily.
Generally speaking, the nitrite content reaches its peak when pickled vegetables are pickled for several to more than ten days. However, within 2-3 weeks, it will slowly decrease and decrease. After 20 days, it will basically reach a safe level and can be eaten safely.
Other studies have long confirmed that pickled cabbage fermented with pure acetic acid bacteria or pickled cabbage fermented with pure lactic acid bacteria will not lead to excessive nitrite, because these [good bacteria] do not produce nitrite.
Special attention should be paid to the homemade pickled vegetables and pickled vegetables made by farmers. It is more dangerous if the pickling time is not enough.
Does sausage bacon necessarily exceed the standard of nitrite?
Not necessarily.
In meat processing, nitrite is allowed to be used within the legal scope and in accordance with the permitted safe dose to prevent the growth of pathogenic microorganisms and maintain the color and luster of meat, which will be beneficial to the preservation and transportation of meat.
For example, we often eat ham sausage, sausage, bacon, etc., as long as it is a regular product, eat a proper amount, there is no need to worry about safety issues.
Is what prone to nitrite poisoning?
It may often be heard not to eat pickles, bacon, etc. in large quantities. How big is the large amount?
Eating 300 ~ 500 milligrams of nitrite may cause tissue hypoxia and poisoning, while skin contact is irrelevant.
Generally, there are only the following extreme situations, which may lead to excessive intake of nitrite:
1. Misuse salt for cooking
I remember a Chinese text when I was a child, describing the incident in which chefs on construction sites mistakenly put nitrite into dishes as salt, causing a large number of workers to be poisoned.
2. Take it yourself and commit suicide, which is even more rare.
Nitrite Carcinogenic?
In fact, the carcinogen is [nitrosamine].
We often say nitrite is sodium nitrite, which itself does not cause cancer.
Long-term and repeated intake of nitrate and nitrite, under certain conditions, will combine with amines in the body to produce nitrosamines. Nitrosamines have been identified by the International Cancer Research Center (IARC) as Class 2A carcinogens (probably related to carcinogenesis), such as esophageal cancer and gastric cancer.
However, we should pay attention to the following points:
- Nitrite cannot be present alone, and a large number of amines are required in the body to generate nitrosamines. Amines come from protein decomposition products of animal foods. Nitrosamines are a large class of substances, not all of which are carcinogenic, only some of which will be converted into carcinogenic in a certain acidic environment. In particular, people with excessive gastric acid secretion often have a higher risk of cancer.
The above-mentioned foods that may contain nitrite are recommended to eat less, but if you eat them occasionally, the problem is not big and there is no need to panic.