Nitrite stabilization of lipids in cured pork

Peroxidation studies indicated that phospholipids, microsomes and mitochondria from cured pork samples are less susceptible to metmyoglobin/hydrogen peroxide-catalyzed peroxidation than their counterparts from nitrite-free pork samples. The reaction of phospholipids and polyunsaturated fatty acid ethyl esters with dinitrogen trioxide increased their stability to peroxidative changes. Phospholipids from cured pork and those lipids reacted with dinitrogen trioxide were capable of nitrosating a secondary amine. These data, together with infrared analyses, indicate that nitrite or dinitrogen trioxide reacts with unsaturated lipids to form nitro-nitroso derivatives, thus stabilizing the lipids toward peroxidation changes. This mechanism can, in part, explain the antioxidant role of nitrite in cured meats.