The vegetable based baby foods (Brand D) showed relatively higher nitrate content in comparison to the other baby food matrices. Two samples from Brand D contained nitrate values higher than the current EU legislation (EC, 2006). The main ingredients of these samples were carrots, broccoli and sweet corn. Similar studies carried out in Portugal , Spain and Estonia have reported nitrate values higher than 200 mg kg1 for baby foods containing broccoli and/or carrots. The nitrate content increases and followed trend as: milk based < cereal based < fruit based < vegetables based. The mean nitrate data (±SD) for the 10 chosen baby food matrices have been compared in Fig. 3. The above mentioned trend is undoubtedly discernible in this graphical representation of the nitrate data.