ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses various facets of the nitrosamine problem, emphasizing their occurrence and formation in foods. Nitrosamines are formed by the interaction of secondary or tertiary amines with nitrite or other nitrosating agents. For the commonly occurring foodborne secondary amines, most of which are highly basic, the optimum pH for nitrosation lies between 3–3.5. Foods can be contaminated with nitrosamines as a result of migration from food contact materials. The main difficulty in measuring in vivo nitrosamine formation lies in the fact that most N-Nitroso compounds (NOC) are metabolized rapidly by the liver, and very little is left to be detected in the blood or the urine. Biochemical studies suggest that most nitrosamines require metabolic activation before effecting their toxic and biological properties. Of various factors affecting carcinogenicity of NOCs, the role of metabolic modifiers deserves a special mention. Various researchers have attempted to correlate human exposure to nitrosamines with the incidence of specific cancer in human population.
