Effect of Plant Powders as Natural Nitrate Source on Reduction of Nitrosamine Compounds in Beef Burgers

Recent epidemiological studies have shown a positive association between cancer incidence and high intake of processed meats. N-nitrosamines (NAs) in these products have been suggested as one potential causative factor. Most NAs are classified as probable human carcinogens. Nitrite, a curing agent of meat products and is a precursor of carcinogenic, so one of the main research topics in meat industry is the reduction of chemical contamination with nitrite. This research aimed to evaluate the effect of replacement of artificial nitrite by tomato, red beet and celery powders (at levels of 1.5 and 3%) as natural sources of nitrates into beef burger formula on residual nitrite and NAs concentrations. The results showed that the tested plant powders were much decreased the residual nitrite content in beef burger samples during the frozen storage periods by different rates depending on the type and level of powder added. Where, tomato powder was the most effective in reducing these contents, followed by red beet powder. Also, the results indicated that the compounds of NDMA, NDEA, NPYR, NPIP, NDBA, NDPA and NSAR were detected in all tested samples and ranged from 0.30 to 10.0μg/kg. While, the other nitrosamine compounds such as NPRO, NMOR, NMEA, NMA and NHPRO were not detected. In general, beef burger samples containing plant powders were lower in the total nitrosamine content (0.84 to 3.66 μg/kg) compared with the sample prepared with 150 ppm sodium nitrite (10.0 μg/kg). The most abundant nitrosamine compounds in the burger samples were NDMA (0.17 2.71 μg/kg), NDEA (0.05 1.78 μg/kg) and NPYR (0.08 2.11μg/kg). It could be concluded that the nitrite (precursor of NAs) can be avoid by replace it with natural nitrate/nitrite sources.