Analysis and health risk assessment of nitrosamines in meat products collected from markets, Iran: with the approach of chemometric.

The aim of study was evaluate of the concentration and health risk of nitrosamines in 150 meat products samples by using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC/MS), with the chemometric approach. Among the identified nitrosamines, the levels of N-nitrosopyrrolidine (NPYR), N-nitrosopiperidine (NPIP), and total nitrosamines in meat sausages samples were significantly higher than chicken sausages (p < 0.05). Principal component analysis and heat map visualization confirmed meat percentage and sausages type (meat or chicken) which had significant effects on nitrosamines content. The NPIP and NPYR intake was 1.17E-07 and 2.12E-07 mg/kg bw/day, respectively. The Monte Carlo simulation results indicated that the 95th percentile from NPIP and NPYR based on ILCR index were 9.07E-07 and 4.72E-07, respectively. In conclusion, the carcinogenic risk of nitrosamines was considerably lower than the safe risk limit (CR > 1E-4) recommended by United States Environmental Protection Agency for Iranian population.