# Nitrite content of canned foods

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrite-content-of-canned-foods/978591>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** food-cooking\
**Created:** [January 22, 2023, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrite-content-of-canned-foods/978591 "2023-01-22T02:26:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2023, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrite-content-of-canned-foods/978591/1 "2023-01-22T02:26:30Z")

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I’m finding this a surprisingly difficult thing to pin down on the Internet; just what is the nitrite content per serving of various canned meat products? A gazillion references to the _fact_ that canned meat contains nitrites (and nitrates), but no data. In fact it’s proving easier to find out how much nitrite occurs naturally in spinach then in commercially canned foods which are required to list both their contents and nutrition values. Cites needed!

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**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2023, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrite-content-of-canned-foods/978591/2 "2023-01-22T20:37:31Z")

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I’m not sure how you’d actually know, if it’s not listed in the nutrition facts.

I mean, if it’s something like a canned ham, you could probably look up how much regular ham has, and assume a canned one is similar.

But if you’re looking at something with ham or ham stock in it, like say… these turnip greens, there’s not really any way to tell.

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**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2023, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrite-content-of-canned-foods/978591/3 "2023-01-22T20:42:47Z")

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Sodium nitrite is listed as an ingredient, but the amount isn’t given. And I’d have to assume anything canned will have more nitrite than its fresh or frozen equivalent.

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**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2023, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrite-content-of-canned-foods/978591/4 "2023-01-22T20:50:36Z")

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And nitrites can be introduced in the form of celery powder in so-called “uncured” meats, which _are_ cured via celery powder (which contains a large dose of nitrites) instead of using pure nitrites. So you won’t see nitrites on the ingredient list.