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Organic Bacon & Ham Curing

Past press reports suggested a lowering of organic standards due to supermarket pressure, with regard to the use of methods of curing meat. Graig Farm’s position is as follows :

What is Curing?

Curing of meat is a tradition method of preserving, dating back many hundreds of years in the UK alone. It originated from the need to preserve meat over the winter, when it was impossible to keep animals alive due to lack of winter feed.

By its very nature, meat curing is a chemical preservation method, which prevents harmful micro-organisms from developing.

Curing Methods

From at least Medieval times, salt was mixed with saltpetre and other ingredients such as sugar, honey or juniper berries to carry out the process of preserve the pork.

Two curing methods developed – wet (or brine) curing and dry curing. In the former, the curing ingredients were mixed with boiling water to form a "pickling" brine, whereas in dry curing, the ingredients were simply rubbed into the meat several times over the period of the cure.

The Basic Chemistry of Curing

Saltpetre is potassium nitrate . During the curing process, naturally occurring bacteria convert this nitrate into the nitrite form. It is this nitrite which then reacts with the constituents of the meat, and effects the curing process, producing the familiar pink colour to the ham.

If saltpetre is heated, it converts to potassium nitrite. From early times, a second form of saltpetre was used, called sal prunella. This was produced by fusing saltpetre into balls. This fusing process produced minute quantities of potassium nitrite, which enabled the curing process to start more quickly.

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The Use of Nitrates - Yes or No?

Within the UK Organic Regulations, saltpetre (the nitrate) has been approved for curing meat for some years, as it is a traditional and essential part of the curing process. The curing of ham is effectively impossible without it, and the meat produced is a very unappetising grey colour, and often very salty.

The current controversy has been caused partly by lack of public understanding about what the curing of meat involves. It must be accepted that during the curing process there are some essential chemical reactions.

If it is accepted that organic ham is desirable, then the argument revolves around how many chemicals should be used in its production. The options are :

  1. Salt alone - this produces a rather salty, poorly coloured product - not particularly pleasant to look at, and sometimes rather too salty for many people's palate. It could also enables bacteria which cause the disease Botulism to develop.
  2. Salt plus saltpetre (nitrate) - normally a good flavour and colour, but rather variable in outcome. Botulism bugs prevented from developing.
  3. Salt, saltpetre and nitrite - a more consistant product - the "normal" way of producing ham. Also prevents botulism bugs from developing.

The Case For The Direct Use of Nitrites

  • >Based on historical evidence, "traditional" curing recipes going back several hundred years have in fact used a mixture of nitrate and nitrite, in the form of sal prunella.
  • The direct use of nitrites does not add any new chemical to the process, as nitrite is formed anyway, from saltpetre.
  • The direct use of nitrite enables processors to control the process of curing more accurately, and ensure consistency of product, which is what supermarkets require.
  • The curing process carries with it some risk of contamination by harmful bacteria. The direct use of nitrite, which controls some of these harmful bacteria, reduces the risk of contamination, and specifically the dangers of botulism are removed.

The Case Against The Direct Use of Nitrites

  • There should in Organics be minimal use of chemicals – the fewer individual chemicals used the better. There is some evidence of carcinogenic properties of nitrites.
  • If other conditions are correct, the risk from harmful bacteria during the curing process is minimal.
  • A good quality product can be produced without the direct use of nitrites.

Graig Farms Approach

At Graig Farm we produce two main cured pork products – bacon and ham.

  • In both our hams and bacons, we use now use salt, sugar, and saltpetre.

We use saltpetre in our hams in order to produce a product of suitable quality, acceptable to our customers. We have concluded that the potential risk, however small, of allowing botulism bugs to develop is a risk not worth taking.

We rely on the natural conversion of saltpetre to nitrite, and do not use nitrite directly in the curing process.

Whilst previously, we did not consider the use of nitrate nor nitrite necessary in the production of bacon, we have decided to change our policy recently, due to the danger, however small, of botulism bugs developing without the use of nitrates or nitrites. With some regret therefore, we now use nitrates in all our cured products.

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