Comparação entre a espectrofotometria e a eletroforese capilar para determinação de nitratos e nitritos em linguiça

Abstract

Nitrates and nitrites are widely used in meat products due to their action bacteria growth and to provide the typical color in sausages. However, the continuous consumption of these preservative agents may cause methemoglobinemia in children.The maximum allowance for nitrate and nitrite use is established as 200 mg/kg of nitrite in meat products, and up to 1 part of nitrite for a thousand, therefore the Minist?io da Agricultura Pecu?ia e Abastecimento tolerate nitrate and nitrito use in meats products, up to a maximum of 200 mg/kg of nitrito of product, with a maximum of one part for a thousand of nitrate separately. Several techniques are used for detection and quantification of nitrite in meat products. The spectrophotometric analysis is widely used, and has the advantage of low cost. On the other hand it is a laborious method. Capillary electrophoresis, as an alternative, method is one technique that offers the advantages of short time for analysis (approximately of 3 minutes), small volume of sample for injection and simplicity. The objetive of this work was to compare both methods spectrophotometric (official method) and capillary electrophoresis for analysis of nitrite in calabresa type sausage. Additionally samples of calabresa type sausage were collected in the market of Belo Horizonte metropolitan region, and analyzed for nitrite concentration. The results showed that all samples complied with the maximum legally allowed concentration of nitrite