Hartman P E
Environ Mutagen. 1983;5(2):217-22. doi: 10.1002/em.2860050209.
Sorbic acid and potassium sorbate are widely used Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) food additives with an extremely high (25 mg/kg) acceptable daily intake level. Some children between the ages of 6-24 months may actually ingest this amount. While presently not permitted to be added directly to meat and poultry products in the US, potassium sorbate has been proposed as a preservative for bacon, as an additive in conjunction with nitrite and ascorbate or erythorbate. Sorbate and nitrite form several species of direct-acting mutagens and genotoxic agents when present together at pH's mimicking gastric conditions. Two of the mutagens have been identified as ethylnitrolic acid and 1,4-dinitro-2-methylpyrrole. Mutagen formation is blocked by ascorbate at low pH. Ascorbate at eightfold molar excess leads to inactivation of 1,4-dinitro-2-methylpyrrole near neutral pH but does not destroy the mutagenic nitro compound at low pHs. The combination of sorbate with nitrite represents a potential health risk in the absence of adequate inactivating levels of ascorbate (vitamin C).
山梨酸和山梨酸钾是广泛使用的公认为安全（GRAS）的食品添加剂，其每日可接受摄入量极高（25毫克/千克）。一些6至24个月大的儿童实际上可能会摄入这个量。虽然目前在美国不允许直接添加到肉类和家禽产品中，但山梨酸钾已被提议作为培根的防腐剂，与亚硝酸盐和抗坏血酸盐或异抗坏血酸盐一起作为添加剂。在模拟胃部条件的pH值下，山梨酸盐和亚硝酸盐同时存在时会形成几种直接作用的诱变剂和基因毒性剂。其中两种诱变剂已被鉴定为乙硝肟酸和1,4-二硝基-2-甲基吡咯。在低pH值下，抗坏血酸盐可阻止诱变剂的形成。在接近中性pH值时，八倍摩尔过量的抗坏血酸盐会导致1,4-二硝基-2-甲基吡咯失活，但在低pH值下不会破坏诱变硝基化合物。在没有足够水平的抗坏血酸盐（维生素C）使其失活的情况下，山梨酸盐与亚硝酸盐的组合代表了一种潜在的健康风险。
