Nitrates In Vegetables In Our Country Are Above Normal

Nitrates in vegetables in our country are ten times more than permissible according to the norms of the World Health Organization .

Lazarina Gerova, manager of a private laboratory for control of vegetables and fruits, alerted about this.

Nitrates are chemical compounds that are found everywhere - in water, soil, plants, food and the human body. Their presence in the environment is a consequence of the nitrogen cycle, in which they are key intermediaries.

Specifically, they are not harmful, except in large doses, and their compounds - nitrites , which can become carcinogenic. Nitrates are converted to nitrites most often during frying or improper storage of vegetables.

The high content of nitrates and nitrites can cause allergic reactions, nausea and others. Some time ago in Bulgaria there was a norm for the maximum allowable content of nitrates in vegetables, which was about 300 mg / kg, but it was dropped and now there are lettuce and spinach with 10 and more times higher nitrate content.

European norms are more liberal. According to a regulation of the European Commission, spinach can contain a maximum of 2500-3000 mg / kg of nitrates, and lettuce - between 2500-4500 mg / kg (depending on whether they are produced in the period from 1 April to 30 September or from 1 October to 31 March).

The norms for other vegetables are also around 4500 mg / kg maximum, but it is emphasized that in such quantities they can be harmful for pregnant women, babies and young children.

The European requirements, which our country also complies with, have a significantly higher limit. For spinach now and in the summer, the upper limit for nitrate content is 2500 mg / kg, while that of the World Health Organization is 250 mg / kg.

For young children the permissible level is 50 mg / kg of production. The situation is similar with other types of vegetables that are controlled. In the last year and since the beginning of this year, no party with nitrates above the permissible level has been detected.

There is a monitoring program for the content of nitrates in Bulgaria and the active season for analyzes has started since the beginning of March.

Studies are being done on the nitrate content of salads and lettuce, arugula, iceberg lettuce and fresh and frozen spinach and vegetable-based baby purees.

The norms set in European legislation are for the five groups of vegetables that are most at risk.

Before 1999, however, all species were controlled in our country, Eng. Gerova is categorical. According to her, since then the level of pollution has been constantly increasing , and producers have nowhere to check what is in the green.

She claims that the term organic products is also very much abused because they can be full of nitrates, even though they are fed only with natural fertilizers.

The question is not what type of fertilizer, but the dose, the engineer believes, adding that organic production is based on natural fertilizers , but if they are overdosed, pollution can be as dangerous as artificial ones.

In addition to strip tests, the user can find out about the high nitrate content and the "eye". If there are yellowish areas on the vegetables , it means that they contain a lot of nitrates.

Experts advise not to eat stale vegetables and store them in the refrigerator. Wash vegetables thoroughly before eating and avoid frying them, because in this treatment nitrates are more easily converted into nitrites.

It is also advisable to blanch the vegetables before cooking.

Vitamin C prevents nitrates from turning into nitrites and forming carcinogenic compounds. Season salads with lemon or drink citrus juices in combination with vegetable dishes.