The Use of Sodium Nitrates And Curing Salts Is Your Choice
To use or not to use Nitrates (Pink Salts, Instacures)?
Traditional recipes never called on the use of additional nitrates (pink salts). I presume primarily due to charcuterie makers using their own livestock, fresh pork, and trust in their own food to plate food chain etc. Perhaps indicative of more cavalier times or unknown of the potential risks, such additives are very much a modern addition.
Unfortunately, we now live in modern times, with heavy commercialisation, and a litigious society populated with ambulance chasers, makers with poor hygiene, improper handling, and cost cutting manufacturers, so any omission now is not a trivial matter.
Added Nitrates have been ever present in any cured and preserved foods for years. These also occur naturally in many vegetables. With cured meat production it imparts a distinct flavour, controls lipid oxidation, and operates as an antimicrobial.
What Do These Additives Actually Do?
These additives do two things – Firstly they are added to provide an extra level of defence against botulism (Clostridium botulinum). The additional nitrates slowly convert into nitrites like a slow release, giving a longer opportunity to battle and kill any bad bacterium that can cause botulism.
The second thing is they actually aid the colouring of the meat – ever wondered why commercial bacon stays pink when you cook it whilst roast pork or other pork cuts turns grey when cooked?
So Are These Safe to Consume?
Firstly, don’t suddenly get alarmed. Nitrates are a natural part of any diet. However research does link high levels with colorectal cancer (3rd biggest cancer killer in the USA),
and other diseases such as leukaemia, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, heart disease, and ovarian, stomach, oesophageal, pancreatic and thyroid cancers, neurological conditions, neurological conditions, like Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. All are linked to excessive consumption of sodium nitrate.
The additives added to prevent meat from spoiling are the very same chemicals that combine to form carcinogens and increase the risk for colorectal cancer and mortality due to cancer. It is reported that the increased use of these nitrates may interfere with the body’s utilisation of sugar, leading to the development of diabetes. Sodium nitrate may cause hard arterial walls and narrow arteries, resulting in atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease.
This is an ongoing topic across medical journals and studies.
But Don’t Panic!
The amounts to be added during home production are small (typically 0.25% the weight of the meat mix) but these are highly toxic chemical additives where too much can and will kill you. This is why ‘Pink salt’ is “Pink” so you don’t accidentally mistake it for salt during cooking!
The use of pink salts / Instacures / Prague powders is now very much an accepted and recognised modern practice and ultimately the decision is yours to make. Omission would be in line with support for organic foods, and acceptance of additives.
Reducing the Risk for Non Use of Additional Nitrates
If you use clean equipment, fresh meat, use correct salt quantities, and grind the meat yourself then the risk is akin to getting it from a fresh vegetable from the ground (as this is the primary source of the bacteria). This is the main reason we recommend you NEVER use store bought pre-ground meat in any of our recipes. If any bad bacteria were present on the outside of the meat before grinding it would now be inside and would have had time to spread internally. When using whole muscles (bacons, loins, lomo etc) the amount of salt on the outside will kill any bad bacteria and so is not required. But if you wish to add, that is your choice.
I Said Don’t Panic
I appreciate reading all the above might start putting the spooks up you, especially when reading the word botulism. Botulism is very rare but still potentially fatal. Clostridium botulinum bacteria are actually found in the soil and river/sea sediments – the same ground your vegetables grow in – as well as being present in tinned foods. It is because the natural presence of botulism, for example, that you don’t give honey to babies and infants.
For home production it is entirely your decision to include or omit these additional chemical additives. We provide values for both processes. There is increasing medical proof that these are bad for you if consumed regularly though – but the problem now being that they are now added to so many other foods that you may be completely unaware of their presence without checking the ingredients of every you consume with a religious vigour.
It Is Your Choice
In short, the choice is yours to add and use. I don’t add to my recipes when I make charcuterie and have never done through personal choice.
We use the magic number of 3 (3% weight of meat in salt) and other acidity additions like wine to kill bad bacteria and promote good bacteria. You can swap this amount to 2.5% in salt and 0.25% in sodium nitrate if you choose to use these additional additives in your curing and charcuterie journey.
More information on the above is available from :
Livescience.com (livescience.com)
HealthOnline (healthonline.com)
National Center for Biotechnology Information (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/)
https://www.dovemed.com/healthy-living/wellness-center/what-are-negative-health-effects-sodium-nitrate/
https://www.healthline.com/health/colorectal-cancer-causes#risk-factors
https://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/is-sodium-nitrate-bad-for-you#The-Risks-of-Getting-Too-Much
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3584417/
Traditional recipes never called on the use of additional nitrates (pink salts). I presume primarily due to charcuterie makers using their own livestock, fresh pork, and trust in their own food to plate food chain etc. Perhaps indicative of more cavalier times or unknown of the potential risks, such additives are very much a modern addition.
Unfortunately, we now live in modern times, with heavy commercialisation, and a litigious society populated with ambulance chasers, makers with poor hygiene, improper handling, and cost cutting manufacturers, so any omission now is not a trivial matter.
Added Nitrates have been ever present in any cured and preserved foods for years. These also occur naturally in many vegetables. With cured meat production it imparts a distinct flavour, controls lipid oxidation, and operates as an antimicrobial.
What Do These Additives Actually Do?
These additives do two things – Firstly they are added to provide an extra level of defence against botulism (Clostridium botulinum). The additional nitrates slowly convert into nitrites like a slow release, giving a longer opportunity to battle and kill any bad bacterium that can cause botulism.
The second thing is they actually aid the colouring of the meat – ever wondered why commercial bacon stays pink when you cook it whilst roast pork or other pork cuts turns grey when cooked?
So Are These Safe to Consume?
Firstly, don’t suddenly get alarmed. Nitrates are a natural part of any diet. However research does link high levels with colorectal cancer (3rd biggest cancer killer in the USA),
and other diseases such as leukaemia, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, heart disease, and ovarian, stomach, oesophageal, pancreatic and thyroid cancers, neurological conditions, neurological conditions, like Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. All are linked to excessive consumption of sodium nitrate.
The additives added to prevent meat from spoiling are the very same chemicals that combine to form carcinogens and increase the risk for colorectal cancer and mortality due to cancer. It is reported that the increased use of these nitrates may interfere with the body’s utilisation of sugar, leading to the development of diabetes. Sodium nitrate may cause hard arterial walls and narrow arteries, resulting in atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease.
This is an ongoing topic across medical journals and studies.
But Don’t Panic!
The amounts to be added during home production are small (typically 0.25% the weight of the meat mix) but these are highly toxic chemical additives where too much can and will kill you. This is why ‘Pink salt’ is “Pink” so you don’t accidentally mistake it for salt during cooking!
The use of pink salts / Instacures / Prague powders is now very much an accepted and recognised modern practice and ultimately the decision is yours to make. Omission would be in line with support for organic foods, and acceptance of additives.
Reducing the Risk for Non Use of Additional Nitrates
If you use clean equipment, fresh meat, use correct salt quantities, and grind the meat yourself then the risk is akin to getting it from a fresh vegetable from the ground (as this is the primary source of the bacteria). This is the main reason we recommend you NEVER use store bought pre-ground meat in any of our recipes. If any bad bacteria were present on the outside of the meat before grinding it would now be inside and would have had time to spread internally. When using whole muscles (bacons, loins, lomo etc) the amount of salt on the outside will kill any bad bacteria and so is not required. But if you wish to add, that is your choice.
I Said Don’t Panic
I appreciate reading all the above might start putting the spooks up you, especially when reading the word botulism. Botulism is very rare but still potentially fatal. Clostridium botulinum bacteria are actually found in the soil and river/sea sediments – the same ground your vegetables grow in – as well as being present in tinned foods. It is because the natural presence of botulism, for example, that you don’t give honey to babies and infants.
For home production it is entirely your decision to include or omit these additional chemical additives. We provide values for both processes. There is increasing medical proof that these are bad for you if consumed regularly though – but the problem now being that they are now added to so many other foods that you may be completely unaware of their presence without checking the ingredients of every you consume with a religious vigour.
It Is Your Choice
In short, the choice is yours to add and use. I don’t add to my recipes when I make charcuterie and have never done through personal choice.
We use the magic number of 3 (3% weight of meat in salt) and other acidity additions like wine to kill bad bacteria and promote good bacteria. You can swap this amount to 2.5% in salt and 0.25% in sodium nitrate if you choose to use these additional additives in your curing and charcuterie journey.
More information on the above is available from :
Livescience.com (livescience.com)
HealthOnline (healthonline.com)
National Center for Biotechnology Information (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/)
https://www.dovemed.com/healthy-living/wellness-center/what-are-negative-health-effects-sodium-nitrate/
https://www.healthline.com/health/colorectal-cancer-causes#risk-factors
https://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/is-sodium-nitrate-bad-for-you#The-Risks-of-Getting-Too-Much
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3584417/