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FACTORS AFFECTING THE FORMATION OF NITRATE FROM ADDED NITRITE IN MODEL SYSTEMS AND CURED MEAT PRODUCTS
Author(s) -
LEE S. H.,
CASSENS R. G.,
WINDER W. C.,
FENNEMA O. R.
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
journal of food science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 150
eISSN - 1750-3841
pISSN - 0022-1147
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2621.1978.tb02390.x
Subject(s) - metmyoglobin , nitrite , myoglobin , chemistry , nitrate , ascorbic acid , sodium nitrite , food science , sodium ascorbate , inorganic chemistry , sodium nitrate , biochemistry , organic chemistry
Experiments were designed to determine the effect of the chemical state of myoglobin and presence of ascorbate on the conversion of nitrite to nitrate. In model systems, nitrate was not formed when nitrite was incubated in the presence of either metmyoglobin or ascorbate. However, most of the added nitrite was converted to nitrate when both ascorbate and metmyoglobin were present. It is suggested that ascorbate reduces metmyoglobin to myoglobin, and then, the myoglobin is oxidized simultaneously with nitrite to form nitrate. In cured meat products, a detectable level of nitrate was formed in the absence of ascorbate, but in the presence of ascorbate the level of nitrate formed was greater. The explanation suggested was that endogenous reductants in meat could play the same role as ascorbate in model systems. Such endogenous reductants were responsible for more than half of the nitrate formation in meat products containing sodium ascorbate.