[Nitrate and nitrite levels in daily food rations of children from the rural Puławy regions].

In the region of Puławy where the operation of the Nitrogen-Compound Manufacturing Plant has lead to an increase in nitrogen compound emission to the environment, nitrate and nitrite contents in daily food rations of children were determined. Daily food rations of children aged 8-9 and 12-13 years were collected from individual farms in four villages situated in the vicinity of the Nitrogen Plant, as well as--for control--from individual farms in Janowiec, a village distant from this Plant. Nitrate and nitrite contents were assayed in 300 daily food rations taken in spring and autumn. Nitrate was reduced to nitrite on a cadmium column whereupon it was determined colorimetrically using sulphanilic acid and N-1-napthyl-ethylenediamine. It was found that in the group of younger children as many as 70%, on the average, of the examined food rations displayed nitrate contents exceeding the admissible levels. In the group of the 12-13 years old children, the percentage of daily food rations whose nitrate content exceeded the admissible level was lower, averaging ca. 30% of all rations examined. The percentage of the daily food rations in which the nitrite content was higher than admissible level was closely similar in both groups of children, averaging ca. 30% of all rations examined. Food rations collected in spring, as compared with those taken in autumn, contained significantly greater amount of nitrate. In both periods of studies, nitrate contents were greater in the food rations from the farms situated near the Nitrogen Plant than in the food rations from farms in Janowiec.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)