Nitrosamines

Nitrosamines, group of chemicals that have caused cancer in some animals under laboratory conditions. No compelling evidence has been found that they cause cancer in humans, but awareness of this possibility has involved the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in various regulatory maneuvers without, as yet, any outright banning of the chemicals concerned. The chemicals that are suspect are the nitrites that have long been used to cure and preserve meats and other foods. The nitrites can combine with natural amines and amides in the food or in the human body to form nitrosamines.

Awareness of this potential problem with nitrites has existed since the early 1960s, but it drew increased attention in 1973, when nitrosamines were found in fried bacon. A USDA study led, in 1978, to a regulation calling for a reduced level of nitrite use in curing. This created some difficulties over how to label meats that had not been cured in the traditional manner. In the meantime, a study suggested that nitrites themselves could be carcinogenic, but these results were subsequently cast in doubt, and in 1980 the FDA and USDA decided not to place a ban on nitrites.