Screening procedure for detection of volatile N-nitrosamines in cooked bacon by one-trap mineral oil vacuum distillation and thermal energy analyzer.

A rapid screening procedure for the detection of volatile N-nitrosamines in fried bacon has been developed for the regulatory monitoring of bacon. This procedure uses vacuum mineral oil distillation of an alkaline sample. The distillate is collected in a prewet trap immersed in liquid nitrogen. After thawing, the distillate is transferred to a separator. The trap is rinsed with methylene chloride which is then used to extract the nitrosamines. The methylene chloride is dried with Na2SO4 and concentrated. A gas-liquid chromatograph coupled to a thermal energy analyzer is used to identify and quantitate the nitrosamines. Recoveries of 7 volatile N-nitrosamines added to 25 g fried bacon at the 10 ppb level (microgram/kg) ranged from 78 to 92%.