Risk assessment of dietary exposure to nitrite in cooked meat products of residents in S district, Beijing

Abstract

ObjectiveTo understand the potential harm and influencing factors to the health risk of residents through the exposure of nitrite in cooked meat products in S district of Beijing.MethodsThe nitrite contents in 535 cooked meat samples in S district from 2013 to 2019 was monitored by spectrophotometry， the food consumption of meat products at different ages in S district were collected through nutrition survey. Compared with the acceptable daily intake （ADI） of 0.07 mg/kg·BW established by the joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives （FAO/WHO JECFA）， the health risk of nitrite dietary exposure was analyzed.ResultsThe detection rate of nitrite in cooked meat products sold in S district of Beijing was 94.02%， and the violation rate was 9.16%. The daily exposure of nitrite from cooked meat products for people over 2 years old ranged from 0.000 0 to 0.390 0 mg/kg∙BW， the average nitrite exposure was 0.018 8 mg/kg·BW， and 2.5 % of the residents exceeded the ADI. Except 50~64 years-old group and ≥80 years-old group， the daily exposure of nitrite from cooked meat products exceeded the ADI. Daily exposure of nitrite from cooked meat products in 2~5 years-old group and 6~12 years-old group exceeded ADI at P95 percentile，which was at an unacceptable level. The daily exposure of nitrite from cooked meat products in the 13~17 years-old group was equal to ADI at P95 percentile.ConclusionNitrite residues in cooked meat products sold in S district had the risk of chronic toxicity in some population. Supervision and sampling efforts should be strengthened to popularize nitrite-related knowledge to the public， and minimized the addition of exogenous nitrite and the production of endogenous nitrite.

Keywords

• cooked meat products
• nitrite
• dietary exposure
• risk assessment