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PureScan
High concernPreservative
E250

Sodium nitrite

Nitrites cure and preserve processed meats. They can form N-nitroso compounds, which are linked to bowel cancer.

What the evidence says

  1. 1Processed meat is classed as a Group 1 carcinogen by the WHO's cancer agency
  2. 2Nitrites can react to form carcinogenic nitrosamines, especially when cooked at high heat

Sources

EFSA’s scientific evaluation of E250 (opens in a new tab)

In a PureScan score

An ingredient of high concern removes 40 points from the additives and ingredients part of the score, and caps a product’s whole score at 30. How we score