MAFF plays down health risks of nitrate in food and water

A report on the health implications of dietary intakes of nitrate and related compounds was published in April by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) with reassurances that its findings give no cause for concern, despite its potentially explosive implications for the farming, water and food and drink industries.¹ The report shows that nitrate intakes by many vegetarians exceed an acceptable daily intake (ADI) set at EC level, and that average intakes of nitrite are only just within the ADI. It also contains worrying new findings about the formation of N-nitroso compounds in the human body from ingested nitrate.