INS 250 is sodium nitrite, an inorganic salt used in cured meats like bacon, ham, salami, and sausages. It fixes the pink-red colour of cured meat, gives the typical 'cured' tang, and most importantly suppresses Clostridium botulinum, the bacterium that causes botulism. Indian packaged sausages, salami, and meat luncheon products often list it. It is generally vegan and is permitted by FSSAI for specified food categories with restrictions.
INS 250 is sodium nitrite, an inorganic salt used in cured meats like bacon, ham, salami, and sausages. It fixes the pink-red colour of cured meat, gives the typical 'cured' tang, and most importantly suppresses Clostridium botulinum, the bacterium that causes botulism. Indian packaged sausages, salami, and meat luncheon products often list it.
Brands use it because curing salt is the only widely accepted way to make shelf-stable cured meats safe at scale. Without sodium nitrite, processed meats would need either deep refrigeration, very high salt, or aggressive heat treatment to stop Clostridium botulinum growth. The cap on residual nitrite balances safety against nitrosamine formation under high heat.
INS 250 commonly shows up on Indian packets in these categories:
Sodium nitrite the additive is an inorganic salt synthesised industrially; it is not derived from any plant or animal source. However, its dominant use is in cured meats, which ARE non-vegetarian; products containing sodium nitrite typically also contain meat and carry the brown non-veg dot for that reason, not because of the nitrite itself. The number alone does not make a product non-veg, but the food category usually does.
FSSAI: Permitted by FSSAI under Schedule I of the FSS (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations 2011 as a colour-fixative and preservative for specified meat and meat-product categories with strict residual-nitrite caps (typically 200 mg/kg expressed as sodium nitrite at the point of sale). FSSAI's meat-and-meat-products amendment regulations from February 2023 set the current category-by-category limits.
JECFA: ADI 0-0.07 mg/kg body weight, established at 59th JECFA (2002). EFSA's 2017 re-evaluation confirmed the ADI of 0-0.07 mg/kg bw for sodium nitrite (E250). High-temperature cooking of nitrite-cured meat can form nitrosamines; the ADI is set with that risk in mind, and category-level caps further limit residual nitrite.
On packets, in recipes, and in conversation, INS 250 is also called:
Last verified: 2026-04-30.
This page covers INS 250 one additive at a time. To check a full packet's ingredient list against the same FSSAI / JECFA / EFSA-cited dataset, use the Indian Food Ingredient Checker - paste the whole list and get a per-item verdict plus a composite tone (clear / watch / flag / incomplete).