Curing salt is used in meat processing to generate a pinkish shade and to extend shelf life.[1] It is both a color agent and a means to facilitate food preservation as it prevents or slows spoilage by bacteria or fungus. Curing salts are generally a mixture of sodium chloride (table salt) and sodium nitrite, and are used for pickling meats as part of the process to make sausage or cured meat such as ham, bacon, pastrami, corned beef, etc. Though it has been suggested that the reason for using nitrite-containing curing salt is to prevent botulism, a 2018 study by the British Meat Producers Association determined that legally permitted levels of nitrite have no effect on the growth of the Clostridium botulinum bacteria that causes botulism, in line with the UK's Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food opinion that nitrites are not required to prevent C. botulinum growth and extend shelf life.[2] (see also Sodium Nitrite: Inhibition of microbial growth).
Many curing salts also contain red dye that makes them pink to prevent them from being confused with common table salt.[3] Thus curing salt is sometimes referred to as "pink salt". Curing salts are not to be confused with Himalayan pink salt, a halite which is 97–99% sodium chloride (table salt) with trace elements that give it a pink color.
^Sárraga, C.; Gil, M.; Arnau, J.; Monfort, J. M.; Cussó, R. (1989). "Effect of curing salt and phosphate on the activity of porcine muscle proteases". Meat Science. 25 (4). Elsevier Science: 241–249. doi:10.1016/0309-1740(89)90042-9. PMID 22054673.
^Doward, Jamie (2019-03-23). "Revealed: no need to add cancer-risk nitrites to ham". The Observer. London. Archived from the original on 2021-01-26. Retrieved 2021-02-14. The results show that there is no change in levels of inoculated C botulinum over the curing process, which implies that the action of nitrite during curing is not toxic to C botulinum spores at levels of 150ppm [parts per million] ingoing nitrite and below.
^Bitterman, M. (2010). "Salt Reference Guide". Salted: A Manifesto on the World's Most Essential Mineral, with Recipes. Random House. p. 187. ISBN 978-1580082624. Retrieved 2013-08-16.
types of curing salts often specific to a country or region. One of the most common curing salts. It is also called Insta Cure #1 or Pink curingsalt #1. It...
of time to break down in cured foods than nitrites. Because of this, nitrates are the preferred curing salts for lengthy curing and drying periods. Nitrites...
such as salt, but it is still recognised as a food in its own right. Ham is produced by curing raw pork by salting, also known as dry curing, or brining...
salt beef in some Commonwealth countries, is salt-cured brisket of beef. The term comes from the treatment of the meat with large-grained rock salt,...
and pickling foods and sea salt are the preferred types of salt to use for curing meats. Sugar is sometimes added when curing fish, particularly salmon...
used in the process of curing meat, adds chemicals to the surface of meat that reduce the concentration of salt required. Salting is used because most bacteria...
while curing ingredients vary significantly, curingsalt is almost always used. Seasonings may include mustard seeds, black pepper, garlic salt, or sugar...
"Prague powder" or pink "curingsalt". Even so, potassium nitrate is still used in some food applications, such as salami, dry-cured ham, charcuterie, and...
unrefined Hawaiian sea salt used in cooking or in rituals Curingsalt, containing sodium nitrite and sodium chloride, used in the curing of meats This disambiguation...
traditions have used it as a fresh cut or as a cured pork product (with smoke and/or curingsalt). As a cured and smoked meat in America it is called jowl...
as the cure is stronger and performed for longer, and never smoked. The fat on the meat is necessary for the curing process as it allows the salt to soak...
salting, curing, fermentation, smoking, or other processes to enhance flavour or improve preservation.). Nitrosamines can be formed during the curing...
and others. The earliest form of curing was dehydration or drying, used as early as 12,000 BC. Smoking and salting techniques improve on the drying process...
preserved by curing. Curing is done using a spice and salt mixture containing nitrates or nitrites, which act to extend the shelf life of cured meats. Nitrates...
curing, or rubbed with salt, known as dry curing. Bacon brine has added curing ingredients, most notably nitrites or nitrates, which speed the curing...
layer of salted charcoal paste. The eggs may also be sold with the salted paste removed, wrapped in plastic, and vacuum-packed. From the saltcuring process...
celery powder and salt are used to flavor and preserve cured pork and other processed meats as an alternative to industrial curingsalt. The naturally occurring...
Dried and salted cod, sometimes referred to as salt cod or saltfish or salt dolly, is cod which has been preserved by drying after salting. Cod which has...
including dry-curing, salting, roasting and boiling. In parts of China, taro and salted duck are a unique combination. Over the years, Nanjing salted duck has...
Kosher salt or kitchen salt (also called cooking salt, rock salt, kashering salt, or koshering salt) is coarse edible salt usually without common additives...
Planina where Elena is located. Fenalår – in Norway, salted, dried and cured leg of lamb. Curing time is normally about three months, but the "fenalår"...
carcinogenic nitrosamines due to the combination of nitrates in the ham curingsalt and the amino acids in the cheese in the acidic environment of the pineapple...
tied off. For the production of beef bratwurst, table salt is used instead of the nitrite curingsalt. Hermann Koch, Martin Fuchs: The manufacture of fine...
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