Oddley's dry cure bacon.

[warston]

thanks for those posts , it answered partially the topic i created about the nitrate breaking down ..

[warston]

I knew I'd seen it somewhere

Researchers at the USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) found that the addition of vitamin C (also known as ascorbate) and vitamin E (also known as tocopherol) reduced the levels of nitrosamines in fried bacon and in nitrite-cured products. The findings led to changes in Federal regulations and industry processing to minimize consumer exposure to nitrosamines. USDA now requires adding 550 ppm (parts per million) of either sodium ascorbate or sodium erythorbate to pumped bacon. This addition greatly reduces the amount of free nitrite and, thus, minimizes the formation of nitrosamines. This regulation is found in 9 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 424.22 (b)(1).

If I read this correctly it is a legal requirement,in the USA, that "pumped" bacon has Vitamin C or E added.
I wonder if dry cure bacon in the USA doesn't require it,& if so,why not?

exactly what i read from 3 months ago ! so adding the Vitamin C prevent the formation of nitrosamines by the nitrite, but the question is does it prevent the formation of the nitrosamines that comes out of the breaking down of the nitrAte under a high fire up to 140 F ?

[BriCan]

I think that this is more likely when as BriCan says high cooking temps are involved.

If my memory serves me well (at my age they say its the first thing to go ) there is something in the FDA rules (which I believe is more up to date)that I read from another previous discussion somewhere

I am on a short time span as I am into the dreaded "haggis" season, it seems that there is a strict limit and a specific size that can be bagged

[captain wassname]

Vit C does not prevent anything it speeds up the process of curing in nitrite and nitrate.


Jim

[wheels]

To add to a couple of things raised in the last few posts:

550 ppm sodium ascorbate or sodium erythorbate (isoascorbate), ingoing, is only required in pumped and massaged bacon. It is not listed as a requirement for immersed or dry cure bacon in the FSIS Food Inspectors Handbook.

One of the problems with nitrate is that it needs to react with bacteria in the meat to convert to nitrite. The conversion takes time and could be anywhere between 0% and 100%; it will vary with each piece of meat. Sodium ascorbate/erythorbate will speed the process by allowing a more rapid reduction of both nitrate and nitrite to nitric oxide.

There's a very good, and objective, article on nitrosamines here:

http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/f-w00/nitrosamine.html

HTH

[Salmo]

Cheers Phil,an interesting article.
As somebody who spent nearly 40 yrs in the chemical industry I'm sure I've already been exposed to far more dangerous chemicals than I'll ever get from a bacon sarny!

[ComradeQ]

Right on, interesting discussion. I have never used any other preservatives than cure #1 for my bacon so you learn something new everyday.

[wheels]

I use cure #1 on it's own unless I'm going for something to keep a long time. However, some people also like the taste that saltpetre (nitrate) gives.

A lot of the commercial bacon in the UK still contains some form of nitrate.

Of ten selected at random at the UK food retailer Ocado's website, six contained nitrate in some form (2 sodium, 4 potassium). Only three out of these six contained sodium ascorbate.

Phil