Stickers and a smartphone for easy nitrite detection on foods

The pink color of processed meats is due to the use of nitrates and nitrites. It has been difficult to know how much of a food is Preservatives because they can form potentially cancer-causing compounds. Researchers have developed a film that consumers can stick onto food and take a picture of it with a phone.

nitrite or nitrate salts are used to treat cured and processed meats to keep them fresh. nitrate can be converted to nitrite in the body. Exposure to the acidic environment of the stomach or the high heat of a frying pan can cause a reaction to form nitrosamines, which have been linked to the development of various cancers. There are some methods that can be used to determine nitrite levels in food, but they are not very consumer-friendly and require a lot of time and money. In order to help consumers make more informed decisions, Sal Vallejos, José M. Garca and colleagues wanted to develop an easy to use nitrite quantification system.

The researchers created a film called POLYSEN, which stands for "polymeric sensor," made of four monomers and hydrochloric acid. The meat samples were placed on the ground with disks punched from the material. After removing the disks, the solution was dipped in to develop the color. The film's color worsened when the food had higher levels of nitrite. When a chart of reference disks is photographed in the same image as sample disks, a smartphone app calculates the color change.

The POLYSEN-based method produced results similar to those obtained with a traditional and more complex nitrite detection method when the team tested the film on meats they prepared and treated with nitrite. There was a European regulation for migration of substances from the film to the food. The new approach could be used by consumers to determine nitrite levels in food.

More information: "Easy Nitrite Analysis of Processed Meat with Colorimetric Polymer Sensors and a Smartphone App" ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (2022). pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsami.2c09467 Journal information: ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces