ToxStrategies’ scientists Amy Sheppard and Jennifer van de Ligt collaborated with a team of industry scientists from Cargill to evaluate the safety of supplemental nitrate in pigs. Nitrate supplementation has been studied as a beneficial constituent of the human diet, particularly for its effects on vascular health through vasodilation. Recent studies have focused on benefits of nitrate supplementation in animals, especially in swine. In finishing pigs, growth performance and methemoglobin, the most sensitive safety endpoint, was not affected with dietary nitrate exposure up to 2,000 mg/kg. Serum and tissue nitrate and nitrite levels, myoglobin, and hemoglobin were not adversely affected. Total myoglobin in the loin, which is correlated with red color of meat, increased linearly with greater dietary nitrate in the diet. This work established the safety of up to 2,000 mg/kg dietary nitrate from calcium nitrate as an ingredient in food for finishing pigs. It also augments previous work that demonstrated beneficial effects of up to 1,200 mg/kg dietary nitrate supplementation from calcium nitrate in farrowing and lactating sows and their offspring, and no adverse health effects with up to 6,000 mg/kg supplemental nitrate in sows or piglets.