Content of nitrates and nitrites in unprocessed raw beef

Grażyna Gozdecka, Błażej Błaszak and Marek Cierach
Additional contact information
Grażyna Gozdecka: Department of Food Industry Technology and Engineering, Faculty of Chemical Technology and Engineering, University of Science and Technology in Bydgoszcz, Bydgoszcz, Poland
Marek Cierach: Department of Food Industry Technology and Engineering, Faculty of Chemical Technology and Engineering, University of Science and Technology in Bydgoszcz, Bydgoszcz, Poland

Czech Journal of Food Sciences, 2021, vol. 39, issue 2, 95-99

Abstract: The aim of the study was to examine the contents of nitrates and nitrites in raw beef coming from cattle of the Polish Holstein-Friesian breed, black-and-white type, originating from different parts of Poland. The research material comprised semitendinosus and longissimus thoracis muscles obtained from 176 heads of cattle. The content of nitrites in the examined muscles ranged from 0.6 to 13.3 mg kg-1 in rump muscles and from 0.8 to 13.7 mg kg-1 in muscles of the back. The most samples were characterised by the presence of nitrites in the range from 1 to 5 mg kg-1, and the least samples from 11 to 14 mg kg-1. The contents of nitrates were significantly higher, ranging from 10.2 to 73.5 mg kg-1 in the semitendinosus muscle and from 10.4 to 74.3 mg kg-1 in the thoracis longissimus muscle. Such and higher level of contamination may be the cause of meat discolouration after heat treatment despite the absence of curing ingredients. It is necessary to continuously monitor the concentration of nitrates in raw materials, water and feed to ensure the complete safety of food of animal origin.

Keywords: food safety; uncured meat; contamination (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://cjfs.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/37/2020-CJFS.html (text/html)
http://cjfs.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/37/2020-CJFS.pdf (application/pdf)
free of charge

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:caa:jnlcjf:v:39:y:2021:i:2:id:37-2020-cjfs

DOI: 10.17221/37/2020-CJFS

Access Statistics for this article

Czech Journal of Food Sciences is currently edited by Ing. Zdeňka Náglová, Ph.D.

More articles in Czech Journal of Food Sciences from Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Ivo Andrle ().