Reduction of Mutagen Formation in Cooked Nitrite‐Free Bacon by Selected Cooking Treatments

Abstract
A newly detected cooking‐generated promutagenic fraction in nitrite‐free bacon was evaluated to determine the heating conditions required for its formation. This apparent nonnitrosamine mutagenic activity was detected by the Ames mutagenicity assay when the product was heated by frying, baking, broiling, or high temperature autoclaving, but was not detected in microwave irradiated, steamed, or conventionally autoclaved samples. The ingestion of .the genotoxin(s) can be avoided by employing low temperature cooking methods or strictly controlling heating time. The toxicologic significance of exposures to this genotoxic fraction is unknown.