In the case of non-heated dry-fermented sausages, De Mey et al. (2014) studied the content of N-nitrosamines in a wide variety of European dry-fermented sausages, including chorizo, and reported levels below 5.5 mg/kg; these authors assumed that the low concentrations
detected could be due to the low median concentrations of residual nitrite and nitrate remaining in the screened products, lower than 20 mg/kg each.