Research Article Determining Nitrate and Nitrite Content in Beverages, Fruits, Vegetables, and Stews Marketed in Arak, Iran Mohammad Rezaei, 1 Ali Fani, 2 A. Latif Moini, 2 Parisa Mirzajani, 2 Ali Akbar Malekirad, 3 and Mohammad Rafiei 2 1 Department of Food Safety and Hygiene, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 2 Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran 3 Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran Correspondence should be addressed to Ali Fani; drfani321@yahoo.com Received 5 July 2014; Revised 1 December 2014; Accepted 8 December 2014; Published 25 December 2014 Academic Editor: Julian Blasco Copyright © 2014 Mohammad Rezaei et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Background and Objectives. Presence of excessive nitrite and nitrate in foodstuf can have toxic and carcinogenic efects on humans. Tis study is aimed at measuring nitrate and nitrite in diferent foodstufs available in Arak city market, Iran, in 2013. Methods. Totally 323 samples including stew (102 samples), beverage (116 samples), fruit (55 samples), and vegetables (50 samples) were randomly collected and analyzed according to ofcial AOAC method 973 and ISO 6635 through spectrophotometric method. Results. Average concentration of nitrate and nitrite in the samples was 6.58–136.76, 1.52–38.22 mg kg −1 or liter, respectively. Presence of nitrate and nitrite was confrmed in all samples. High levels of nitrate and nitrite were observed in celery and ghormeh stew; and lower level of nitrate and nitrite was found in traditionally produced vinegar, verjuice, and tomato. Conclusions. It was found that the mean values for nitrite in investigated products were higher than ADI levels of WHO. 1. Introduction Nitrate and nitrite ions are ubiquitous in the environment and naturally found in plant foods as a part of the nitrogen cycle. Vegetables are the original source of dietary nitrate; however, wide variations in nitrate levels have been observed depending on the type of vegetable, its source, conditions of cultivation, and storage [1]. Te amount of available nitrate in soil (depending on the content of artifcial fertilizer) appears to be major factor determining the nitrate content in vegeta- bles [2]. An estimated daily dose of nitrates consumed by man reaches 75–100 mg, of which 80–90% come from vegetables and 5–10% come from water [3]. Nitrate in drinking water usually comes from contamination of ground water caused by fertilizer, animal, or human waste [4]. Nitrate is converted in mammalian systems (through bacterial and mammalian enz- yme action) to nitrite and then reacts with amines, amides, and amino acids to form N-nitroso compound. While nitrate does not have direct carcinogenic efects on humans, nitrite and N-nitroso compounds are known to be biologically active in mammalian system [1]. Nitrate by the enzyme “nitrate red- uctase” (in the saliva, in the stomach, and everywhere in the human body where pH is low) converts to nitrite; nitrite reacts with hemoglobin and produces methemoglobin which enables transporting of oxygen at the cellular level. Newborn organisms are very sensitive to methemoglobinemia because they have an immature “methemoglobin reductase system” [5]. Nitrate and nitrite as the sodium or potassium salts are used as additives in meat products to provide color, taste and protect against microorganisms; however, excessive use of these substances can cause toxicity and carcinogenic efect [6]. High dietary intakes of nitrate and nitrite have been implicated in the etiology of Human gastric cancer based on epidemiology and clinical studies [7]. In the stomach, nitrite reacts with amines and amides; therefor stomach is exposed to the risk of endogenous N-nitroso compound synthesis, as stomach acid reacts with catalyses nitrosation. High nitrate intake has been found to be associated with gastric cancer in England, Colombia, Chile, Japan, Denmark, Hungary, and Italy [8]. Te WHO’s ADI for nitrate is of 222mg/day for Hindawi Publishing Corporation International Scholarly Research Notices Volume 2014, Article ID 439702, 5 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/439702