Total nitrogen content and its influence on ethyl carbamate incidence in cachaça

ABSTRACT

Cachaça is a typical Brazilian spirit of significant economic and social relevance. The spirit may contain organic and inorganic contaminants that impair its quality, such as ethyl carbamate (EC), which is potentially carcinogenic. The study of factors that cause EC incidence is extremely important to produce cachaça with good physicochemical and sensory quality and for public health reasons. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze and quantify nitrogen (N) in sugarcane juice and correlate it with the EC levels, with copper (Cu) as precursor, in cachaça from stills, produced from the sugar of three different sugarcane varieties (RB857515, RB966928 and RB855453). We used the plantation systems without fertilization and with organic and conventional fertilization. The EC and Cu levels were below the legislation threshold and the N levels were correlated with EC formation in different planting systems.