[Studies on the contents of nitrates and nitrites in selected fresh and heat processed vegetables].

The levels of nitrates and nitrites were determined in fresh vegetables and the same products subjected to culinary processing such as boiling. Nitrates were reduced on a cadmium column to nitrites, where upon they were determined colorimetrically using sulfanilic acid and N-1-naphthyl-ethylenediamine. Thermal processing of these vegetables reduced the level of nitrates by about 50% and the nitrites loss reached even 100%.