Malt beverages and brewing materials: screening and confirmatory methods for nitrosamines in beer

Screening methods for nitrosamines in beer were studied by 15 collaborators. Collaborators studied 4 extraction techniques and 2 calculation procedures. All methods showed acceptable recoveries and no significant differences between methods. Based on accuracy, simplicity and speed, the Celite extraction with internal standard calculation is recommended. Fifteen collaborators also studied a distillation confirmatory method compared with a direct extraction with dichloromethane. Because the former gives an extract more suitable for mass spectrometric confirmation of nitrosamines, it is the recommended reference method. The screening and confirmatory methods have been adopted official first action.