Assessment of procedures for the determination of nitrate and nitrite in vegetable extracts

Abstract

The aim of this work was to establish a method that would preferably afford simultaneous extraction and determination of nitrate and nitrite in vegetables. Both high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), with ultraviolet (UV) and conductivity detection, and automated spectrophotometry (AS) were available. The effects of ascorbic acid on nitrate and nitrite, as determined by AS, were investigated. Ascorbic acid significantly reduced the concentration of nitrite in solution, particularly when the solutions were heated. It was concluded that this interference was not occurring during colour development, but was occurring before the analytical determination. Nitrate could be quantitatively recovered from vegetables that were heated or blended with water or extracted under alkaline conditions. Nitrite could only be recovered from alkaline extracts because of the instability of nitrite under acidic conditions. These observations suggest that extraction of nitrite from vegetables with water, as carried out in some surveys, could lead to underestimations of nitrite content. Use of HPLC with conductivity detection was impractical and error prone owing to the long analysis times and interference from sulphate and phosphate, but HPLC with UV detection was about ten times more sensitive than with conductivity detection and AS, and hence has potential in ultra-trace analysis. However, the AS method was preferred for vegetables as it was more time and labour efficient.