Does a law exist which defines where nitrate can be used in food production?
Germany
The acceptable daily dose of nitrates in food has been fixed by the FAO/WHO at 300 mg/day for an adult, whilst the limit value for drinking water is 50 mg/l. The reason for a preferably low intake is that ingested nitrates can be transformed into nitrites. Nitrites can affect the ability of the blood to transport oxygen, by transforming haemoglobin, the protein that carries oxygen in the blood into methaemoglobin a form of the protein which is unable to carry oxygen.
This is especially dangerous for infants up to 6 months. Furthermore nitrites are able to react with other components, such as secondary or tertiary amines and amides derived from food and from other sources, to form well recognized carcinogenic and mutagenic substances, at least to animals, called nitrosamines/amides.Nitrates are however necessary in agriculture and food industry. Nitrate is an essential growing factor for plants and therefore it is widely used for fertilising in agriculture. There is no general regulation regarding the use of nitrate, but because some plants accumulate nitrate in very high amounts, e.g. spinach and lettuce, the European Commission has regulations which set maximum levels for nitrates in those plants and in some foods that are consumed by specific population groups like children :
- in fresh spinach harvested 1 November to 31 March: 3000 (mg NO3 / kg) and harvested 1 April to 31 October : 2500 (mg NO3 / kg)
- European Commission Regulation (EC) No 466/2001· in preserved, deep-frozen or frozen spinach: 2 000 (mg NO3 / kg)
- European Commission Regulation (EC) No 466/2001· in fresh lettuce: harvested 1 October to 31 March: 4 500(mg NO3 / kg) and harvested 1 April to 30 September: 3 500(mg NO3 / kg)
- European Commission Regulation (EC) No 466/2001· in baby foods and processed cereal based foods for infants and young children: 200 (mg NO3 / kg)
European Commission Regulation (EC) No 655/2004A further use for nitrate and nitrite is as preservative food additives in processed meats, such as ham or frankfurters, to keep the products safe by preventing the growth of botulinum bacteria, Clostridium botulinum, which is highly pathogenic. In cured meats they also counteract the undesirable effects of salt on colour.
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