\n<\/p>\n
Sodium nitrite, also known as E250, is the active compound that inhibits the growth of Clostridium botulinum, a bacterium that produces a toxin that can lead to serious illness and even death.<\/p>\n
The compound also gives cured meat its pink hue and keeps the colour stable for \u201cseveral weeks to months\u201d, said National University of Singapore lecturer and food chemist Yeo Hui Qi. Without nitrites, meat oxidises over time and gradually turns greyish or brown.<\/p>\n
Sodium nitrite also gives meat a saltier taste, \u201cwhich consumers crave in their foods\u201d, she noted.<\/p>\n
The thing is, nitrites can react with amino acids naturally present in meat to form nitrosamines, the \u201cvast majority\u201d of which are cancer-causing, she highlighted.<\/p>\n
These compounds form more quickly at higher temperatures, such as during grilling and frying. \u201cThey also form during digestion under acidic conditions,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Sodium nitrite, also known as E250, is the active compound that inhibits the growth of Clostridium botulinum, a bacterium that produces a toxin that can…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":89266,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dam.mediacorp.sg\/image\/upload\/s--I6Ekzbem--\/c_fill,g_auto,h_676,w_1200\/fl_relative,g_south_east,l_mediacorp:cna:watermark:2021-08:cna,w_0.1\/f_auto,q_auto\/v1\/mediacorp\/cna\/image\/2026\/09\/30\/tp_textless_nitrite_free_meats.00_00_10_17.still001.jpg?itok=3waOR2es","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[11360,1733,11083,30881,30882,22],"class_list":["post-89265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-news-sg-global","tag-added","tag-claim","tag-meats","tag-nitrites","tag-processed","tag-singapore","wpcat-2-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=89265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/89266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=89265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=89265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=89265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}