Nearly one-fourth of all marine animals, including about 7,000 species of fish, depend upon coral reefs for some part of their life cycle. Learn More at AskFWC Get FWC News Feeds
Although nitrites are the nitrogen compound chiefly used in meat curing, nitrates are used in certain specialty curing processes where a long release of nitrite from parent nitrate stores is needed. The use of nitrates in food preservation is controversial.
1 Nitrite is unstable and quickly reacts with other compounds.  Levels of nitrate can be expressed in either of two ways: ânitrate as nitrogenâ (symbol: NO3-N) or simply as nitrate (NO3). To convert NO3-N to NO3 in parts per million (ppm, or mg/L), multiply NO3-N by 4.42.