A food additive is any substance not consumed as a food ingredient but added to food for a specific purpose, for example inhibiting microorganism growth and maintaining sensory quality. Potassium and sodium nitrates and nitrites are among the most commonly used food additives in the meat industry due to their antimicrobial effect, in particular to prevent the growth of pathogenic bacteria Clostridium botulinum and its spores. Additionally, they provide specific sensory attributes, primarily the inherent pink color of meat products. Studies showed that excessive intake of nitrates and nitrites may pose a risk to human health. The object of this research was determination of nitrite and nitrate content in meat products without added additives or with those additives from natural sources. Samples were mortadella, cooked ham and bologna sausage as thermally proccessed (cured) meat products and fermented sausage. The statistical analysis of the results for mortadella, cooked ham and bologna sausage as thermally proccessed meat products showed a p-value <0.05 between recipes with added nitrite salt and new recipes. The values of the median mass concentration of sodium nitrite in the commercial recipes were from 3.50-40.50 mg/kg, whereas this value was below the limit of detection in new recipes. Also, for fermented sausage, the p-value below 0.05 between commercial recipe with nitrite and nitrate salt and new recipes confirmed the hypothesis for replacement of mentioned salts with new concepts. The value of the median mass concentration of sodium nitrate in the recipe with added nitrate salt was 268.52 mg/ kg, whereas this value was below the limit of detection in other recipes.

The challenge for the meat industry is developing meat products that contain no additives, have similar sensory properties as traditional nitrite-cured products and will persist throughout their shelf life with the same level of quality and safety. In this study, new recipes with no additives or with food additive substitutes of natural origin were compared with commercially available products. It was concluded that the new meat products – cooked ham (as representative of thermally processed meat products) and fermented sausage had concentrations of nitrite and nitrate below the method’s limit of quantification during the entire shelf life period. Acerola has successfully replaced sodium ascorbate as a natural source of ascorbic acid in meat products. Furthermore, it was proved that no phosphates, comparable to those from raw meat, were added to meat products. Using sensory evaluation, cooked ham and fermented sausage were classified into the highest quality category, in terms of color, flavor, odor and texture during the entire shelf life, and were evaluated as microbiologically safe, according to the Guide for Microbiological Criteria for Foodstuffs (Ministry of Agriculture, March 2011).