Occurrence of volatile N-nitrosamines in Polish tinned foods

N-nitrosamine content was determined in 150 samples of tinned foods collected from meat factories, located in different areas of Poland, in 2000-2001. These products included tinned fish, meat and offals. The analyses were performed by gas chromatography-thermal energy analyser (GC-TEA). Detectable levels of N-nitrosamines were found in about 61% of the individual samples. About 58% of samples contained NDMA at the mean concentration of 3.01 mu g/kg. NPIP was noted in about 6% of samples. No other volatile N-nitrosamines were detected. The most contaminated products were tinned fish (total N-nitrosamines at the concentration of 8.20 mu g/kg). Tinned meat and tinned offals contained much lower concentrations of the compounds (0.55 mu g/kg and 0.39 mu g/kg, respectively).