Antioxidant activity of sodium nitrite in meat

Polar lipids were extracted from raw, nitrite‐treated beef and pork by a dry column procedure. The polar‐lipid fraction had substantial activity in inhibiting the oxidation of linoleic acid as determined by a β‐carotene bleaching method and by conjugated diene formation. The antioxidant activity of the polar‐lipid fraction was stable over several months when stored in hexane at−20 C. Residual sodium nitrite, carbon‐nitroso and nitrogen‐nitroso compounds or products of the addition of nitrogen oxides to olefins do not seem to account for the antioxidant activity observed.