www.sausagemaking.org

Which is correct when curing bacon?
Adding cure salt #1 to begin with 156 ppm or finish with 156 ppm?
I was told I should add .5 % which would mean starting the cure at 350 ppm.

The starting amount should be 156 ppm. Do not use 0.5 %, it is too much.

That's what I thought. Even more so as the bacon I make is from the loin without skin

senorkevin wrote:Which is correct when curing bacon?
Adding cure salt #1 to begin with 156 ppm or finish with 156 ppm?
I was told I should add .5 % which would mean starting the cure at 350 ppm.

Starting with 350ppm would be nonsensical for either of the scenarios you ask about.

Sooner or later you're going to have to decide whether you trust the members here, or the local guy.

We're here to help, but have better things to do than continually justify ourselves. Just accept that they do things differently in Mexico compared to the US, UK, Canada, Australia, EU etc.

You need to decide whether to choose 'local', or the forum's way.

Phil

I trust everyone on here. You have all been I great help amd have answered my questions with great information and tip and techniques. I posted this question because I sent him a email after calculating the ppm and that was his reply. I just wanted to confirm on here before I tell this person that he is wrong. More worrying is that how many more people he has told to use more than double the permitted amount.
I didn't mean to offend anyone single person on this forum.

But he may not be wrong in terms of Mexico. In our terms he is, but legal curing levels may be different in Mexico.

I have been checking the legal levels here in Mexico though the government website and it says that the maximum permitted allowance is 156 ppm, however it doesn't say if that is to add or residual amount.

Why do the ppm change so much between countries?
If I use uk guidelines why cant I use them here if they are under the permitted allowance?

You can. You can do as you like if you're not selling the products (I assume).

In which case, you can choose to use the EU levels. Even in the US, you can use the EU levels for most things should you choose to - both the EU and US rules are for maximum ingoing amounts, so as long as you are above any prescribed minimum you're OK.

I assume I won't make any difference as ppm levels go as in if in the UK the levels are 156 and here they are higher, surely adding less curing salt is better.
To be honest there is a friend of the mrs that said she wants to sell some of my sausages in her local shop, hense all my questions about adding chemicals etc. I think it is all pie in the sky though as so many mexicans talk a good game but when the time comes...

If they're going for sale, then the sensible thing to do it check on the local laws and follow them.

Phil

Thank you again. As in my previous message I hope I didn't offend yourself or any other members here as that wasn't mt intention.