Since sodium nitrite causes cancer, why add it to canned food and other foods? Can you not add it?

Since sodium nitrite causes cancer, why add it to canned food and other foods? Can you not add it?

Sodium nitrite is an inorganic salt formed by the combination of nitrite ions and sodium ions, sodium nitrite is easily deliquescible, easily soluble in water and liquid nitrogen, its water solubility is alkaline, its pH is about 9, slightly soluble in ethanol, methanol, ether and other organic solvents, sodium nitrite has a salty taste, and is sometimes used to make false table salt. Sodium nitrite is exposed to air and reacts with oxygen to form sodium nitrate. If heated to more than 320 degrees Celsius, it decomposes, generating oxygen, nitrogen oxide and sodium oxide, which are flammable and explosive in contact with organic matter. Because of its salty taste and inexpensive price, it is often used as an unqualified substitute for table salt when making illegal foods.

Sodium nitrite is added to meat products mainly has two functions,

One is used as a coloring agent, we know that in daily cooking, the color of meat will become white gray or yellowish after hot processing, which is not good-looking, so food manufacturers will add sodium nitrite to meat products, so that meat will appear as a light red after hot processing, which can increase appetite from the appearance alone. For now, no more ideal coloring agent has been found than sodium nitrite.

The second effect is antiseptic, and can effectively inhibit the formation of botulinum toxin, because meat products, especially canned foods, may be infected with botulinum toxin, which is a threat to human life. In this case, the lesser of two evils, in order to inhibit the growth of botulinum toxin, a very small amount of sodium nitrite will be added to the meat product. The state has strict requirements for the amount of sodium nitrite added to food. Therefore, buying meat products is still buying big brands, so that it will not cause harm to the human body.

Eating safely and eating healthy is not a thing in many cases, processing red meat products is safe, but it is not a healthy food. Long-term consumption will still have a bad impact on the body.

Nitrite itself is not carcinogenic, carcinogenic is the production of nitrosamines in cooking processing and digestion, which is a compound formed by nitrites and proteins. Vitamin C, on the other hand, acts as an antioxidant to prevent nitrites from forming nitrosamines. Therefore, many foods with added nitrite, will also add vitamin C or its sodium salt at the same time, to counteract the harm of nitrite, in the ingredient list is usually written ascorbic acid, sodium ascorbate, D-isoscorbic acid sodium; there is a saying well, put aside the dose to talk about adverse reactions, are playing hooligans, nitrite is a carcinogen Yes, but it is also a legal food additive, widely used in meat products. The state has strict dosage standards for it, as long as it does not exceed the standard for people is safe.

As can be seen in the figure above, sodium nitrite and sodium D-isocorbic acid appear at the same time, and sodium ascorbate is also ranked first, indicating that the amount added is more than sodium nitrite. Sodium D-iso-ascorbate is an isomer of vitamin C, which is in the form of sodium salt, which has the same reductivity as vitamin C, but does not have a sour taste, so it is widely used in various salty foods.

Therefore, while eating foods containing nitrites, you can accompany some fresh fruits and vegetables rich in vitamin C, or directly eat one or two vitamin C supplements.

Of course, it is not that eating vitamin C can be eaten a lot, although eating vitamin C has a certain effect, but for the sake of health, it is best to eat less of these processed meat products.