Content analysis and exposure risk assessment of nitrate and nitrite in imported cheese products in China

Abstract

ObjectiveTo investigate the contamination levels of nitrate and nitrite in imported cheese products from the Chinese market and assess the health risk of nitrate and nitrite exposure among Chinese adult cheese consumers.MethodsBased on the content of nitrate and nitrite in imported cheese products sold in China and the consumption data of cheese food of Chinese residents in 2012， the exposure of dietary nitrate and nitrite of adult cheese consumers in China was estimated by probabilistic assessment method. The exposure results were compared with the acceptable daily intake （ADI） for nitrate directed by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives （JECFA） and the ADI for nitrite directed by the European Food Safety Authority （EFSA）.ResultsAmong 162 imported cheese samples， the detection rate of nitrate was 89.5%， and the average contamination levels was 11.23 mg/kg. The nitrite was detected in only 2 samples， with concentrations of 0.4 and 0.6 mg/kg. The average pollution level of nitrate in different kinds of imported cheese products from high to low was soft cheese， semi-hard cheese， other kinds of cheese and hard cheese. The average exposure of nitrate from imported cheese in Chinese adult was 5.13 μg/kg BW/d， accounting for 0.14% of ADI， and that of high exposure group （P95） was 20.06 μg/kg BW/d， accounting for 0.55% of ADI.ConclusionThe detection rate of nitrate in imported cheese products is relatively high， and the content of different types of imported cheese products is different， while the detection rate of nitrite is very low. The health risk of Chinese adult exposed to nitrate through imported cheese is low.

Keywords

• imported food
• cheese
• nitrate
• nitrite
• risk assessment