The Danish population’s exposure to VNA and NVNA from processed
meat products has so far not been assessed. Primarily due
to concern for the formation of NA the Danish authorities have
found it necessary to maintain national provisions imposing stricter
limits on the use of nitrites than the EU. These national provisions
allow the addition of maximum 60 mg kg−1 to most meat products
intended for the Danish market (Commission decision, L 247/
55 of 25 May 2010). The common EU legislation (Directive 2006/
52/EC) allow the addition of 150 mg kg−1 meat. This exception
expires in May 2015 and in order to evaluate what the consequence
will be for the Danish population if more nitrite may be
added during meat processing, an evaluation of the exposure levels,
as it is now, is needed. Recently we performed a survey on the
occurrence of VNA as well as NVNA in processed meat products
on the Danish market (Herrmann et al., 2014a). Survey data from
the 70 analyzed samples can provide a preliminary estimation of
the exposure to VNA and NVNA from processed meat products for
the Danish populations.
The aim of the present study is therefore to estimate the exposure
to VNA and NVNA from processed meat products for the Danish
population based on results of the recently performed Danish survey
and data on consumption of processed meat products by the Danish
population as well as for the high consumers, the 95th percentile.
Risk characterization is performed by estimating the margin of exposure
(MOE) to NA, based on the ratio between a benchmark dose
level (BMDL10) and the estimated dietary exposures.