Why does air-dried beef jerky contain sodium nitrite?

Air-dried beef jerky is a kind of cured meat food. During the curing process, nitrate will also be reduced to sodium nitrite.

The food safety standard of nitrite residue in pickled meat food is 30 mg per kilogram. In fact, few people eat more than 500 grams of air-dried beef jerky a day, so the actual intake is less than 15 mg, far below the toxic dose of 200 mg. A small amount of nitrite itself has no carcinogenic effect.

After ingesting, the half-life in blood is only 1-5 minutes, and then it is converted into nitric oxide, which plays a role in dilating blood vessels, which is beneficial to lowering blood pressure and preventing heart disease. Since nitrite itself has been decomposed, there is no problem of "accumulation". It's okay to eat once, and there will be no trouble in the future.

Extended data sodium nitrite is a strong oxidant, which combines with hemoglobin after entering the blood, leading to hypoxia in tissues and blue-purple poisoning in human body. Sodium nitrite looks like salt and is easy to misuse. Salted bacon products, braised pork products, smoked barbecue, fried meat, western ham, sausage, fermented meat products, canned meat and meat products are allowed to add sodium nitrite as a food additive.

Its characteristics are that it can improve the freshness of meat, inhibit microorganisms and help to maintain the structure and nutritional value of meat products. The disadvantages of sodium nitrite are also obvious. Because it is a toxic substance in food additives, the limited intake of human body should not exceed 0.3g at most. If you take too much, it will cause sodium nitrite poisoning and even death.

People's Network-Normal addition of nitrite is harmless, and excessive addition can cause death.

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