- Type
- Curing agent
- How serious
- Moderate severity
- Evidence
- Moderate evidence
Why it is flagged
Can form nitrosamines during cooking and digestion; processed meat is classified as carcinogenic to humans.
Health topics it bears on
Sources
- 11. List of Permitted Preservatives (Lists of Permitted Food Additives) Health Canada, 2025
- IARC Monographs Volume 114: Red Meat and Processed Meat International Agency for Research on Cancer, 2018
- Re-evaluation of potassium nitrite (E 249) and sodium nitrite (E 250) as food additives European Food Safety Authority, 2017
- IARC Monographs Volume 94: Ingested Nitrate and Nitrite, and Cyanobacterial Peptide Toxins International Agency for Research on Cancer, 2010
Also listed as
e250, nitrite, potassium nitrite, e249, nitrite de sodium, nitrito de sodio, nitrito di sodio, natriumnitrit, nitrito sodico, nitrite de potassium