Nitrosation of phenols in smoked bacon

THE suggestion that nitrosamines could be formed in cured meats 1 has prompted much research into the fate of added nitrite in these foods. Because of their carcinogenicity, the major effort has been directed towards nitrosamine formation in vitro in cured meats and in vivo , but other nitrosations reported have been those of proteins 2 , thiols 3 and creatine and creatinine 4 . We have recently reported our results on the nitrosation of liquid smoke emulsions in model systems 5 and we are prompted to report our studies of phenol nitrosation in smoked bacons by a recent suggestion that competitive nitrosation of phenolic residues may reduce the amount of nitrosamine formation 6 .