Enzymic method for the determination of nitrite in meat and fish products

A simple spectrophotometric method for the determination of nitrite is described. Nitrite is measured enzymically through its reaction with nitrite reductase coupled with NADH. The entire enzymic procedure required 15 min to complete. The calibration curve was linear in the range 0.1-10 micrograms cm-3 nitrite with a slope of 6.25. The relative standard deviation at 5 microgram g-1 was 1.7% (n = 5). The method greatly simplifies the procedure of nitrite determination and enables the routine inspection of a number of samples with very little laboratory equipment. A comparison study showed that the method was superior to the GC method for samples containing large amounts of reducing substances while good agreement was achieved between both methods for other foods.