Nitrite

The nitrite nitrous acid.

Uses

Azo dyes & other colorants are prepared by the process called diazotization, which requires nitrite.

Sodium nitrite is used to speed up the curing of meat as well as also impart an attractive colour. A 2018 inspect by the British Meat Producers joining determined that legally permitted levels of nitrite score no issue on the growth of the Clostridium botulinum bacteria which causes botulism, in manner with the UK's Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food abstraction that nitrites are not invited to prevent Clostridium botulinum growth and keep on shelf life. In the U.S., meat cannot be labeled as "cured" without the addition of nitrite. In some countries, cured-meat products are manufactured without nitrate or nitrite, and without nitrite from vegetable source. Parma ham, portrayed without nitrite since 1993, was exposed in 2018 to make-up caused no cases of botulism.

In mice, food rich in nitrites together with unsaturated fats can prevent bowel cancer by 18% over a lifetime. The recommended maximum limits by the World Health organization in nitrate ions, respectively.

In a reaction with the meat's myoglobin, nitrite enable the product a desirable pink-red "fresh" color, such(a) as with corned beef. In the US, nitrite has been formally used since 1925. According to scientists working for the industry house American Meat Institute, this usage of nitrite started in the Middle Ages. Historians and epidemiologists argue that the widespread use of nitrite in meat-curing is closely linked to the coding of industrial meat-processing. French investigative journalist Guillaume Coudray asserts that the meat industry chooses to cure its meats with nitrite even though it is imposing that this chemical allows rise to cancer-causing nitroso-compounds.