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PureScan
High concernPreservative
E251

Sodium nitrate

Nitrates cure processed meats and convert to nitrites in the product and in the body.

What the evidence says

  1. 1Convert to nitrites, which can form carcinogenic nitrosamines
  2. 2Mainly used in processed meat, classed as a Group 1 carcinogen

Sources

EFSA’s scientific evaluation of E251 (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