African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 4 (10), pp. 1105-1108, October 2005          
ISSN 1684–5315 © 2005 Academic Journals

Short Communication

Determination of nitrate, nitrite, N- nitrosamines, cyanide and ascorbic acid contents of fruit juices marketed in Nigeria

*Okafor P.N. and Nwogbo E.

Department Of Biochemistry, Michael Okpara University Of Agriculture, Umudike, P.M.B. 7267 Umuahia Abia State Nigeria.

*Corresponding Author E-Mail: pnokafor@yahoo.com.

Accepted 17 June, 2005

The nitrate, nitrite, N- nitrosamines and ascorbic acid content as well as the levels of cyanide in eight brands of fruit juices and twelve brands of sachet water commonly marketed and consumed in Nigeria were estimated. The mean values of nitrate ranged from 2.29±0.05 to 16.50±1.21 mg/L for the juices and 0.64±0.21 to 7.56±3.10 mg/L for sachet water. While the mean concentration of nitrite ranged from 6.84±0.47 to 12.03±1.07 and 0.12±0.02 to 4.42±0.33 mg/L for juices and sachet water, respectively. Four out of the eight brands of juices analyzed contained detectable levels of nitrosamines (2.75±0.47 to 45.70±3.07 µg/L) while none of the samples contained any detectable amount of cyanide. Ascorbic acid concentrations of the samples varied from 100 to 400 mg/L. The results are discussed from nutritional and toxicological points of view.     

Key words: Nitrate, nitrite, N-nitrosamine, cyanide, contamination, fruit juices.