what ham does not have nitrates

Like so many Britons, I love a bacon butty or a plate of ham and eggs. That being said, most of these pork products are made with nitrates, which the World Health Organization says can cause cancer. So I’ve been investigating the alternatives ….

Before the World Health Organization put processed meats on its list of carcinogens in 2015, I didn’t know how much I loved bacon, pancetta, chorizo, and ham. The salty, chewy pancetta chunks make mushroom risotto taste amazing, if I can wait to eat them all before the rice is cooked. The crumbly grain of Christmas ham carved off the bone. Clear chorizo slices on vacation with a glass of red wine or fried with potatoes and red umami oil on top. I’m the gross person who puts her fingers in the pan after cooking bacon to enjoy the salty that melts.

As long as you don’t eat it every day, the health risks might not be as bad as they sound. But plenty are. Britain is a nation of bacon bap breakfasters, with ham sandwiches a lunchbox staple. These foods are served in schools and hospitals, and I knew I had cancer after reading the news. I used to think of charcuterie as traditional and natural, like what you’d find at a busy farmers’ market on a Saturday, but now I avoid it because I think it’s harmful. Once I started checking the ingredients, I saw that even the farmers’ market stuff contained nitrates and/or nitrites. When meat with these additives is cooked and eaten, carcinogenic N-nitroso compounds (NOCs) such as nitrosamine are formed.

Even unprocessed red meat (which includes pork) contains heme iron, which is involved in the formation of NOCs. In light of this, the World Cancer Research Fund says that people should eat no more than three servings of red meat a week and “very little, if any” processed meat.

Things like sodium nitrite (E250), sodium nitrate (E251), and potassium nitrate (E252) are added to processed meats that make them so much worse. The last two are naturally occurring minerals, though they can also be made in a lab. They have been used for hundreds of years to give meat color and keep harmful bacteria away from it. It is during the curing process or when we chew the meat that other bacteria change the nitrates into nitrites. This is why these additives are often just called nitrates or nitrites.

Before the WHO made their announcement, I agreed with the idea that people should eat less meat for the environment. But I was far from being a vegetarian. So I began to look for nitrate-free pork products. That search led me to an online seller who tried to make an additive-free ham, but it came out gray, too salty, and not at all like ham. I was bitterly disappointed. My partner made the traditional dry-cure bacon recipe from River Cottage, which calls for salt and sugar. I thought the bacon was too sweet, and it wasn’t at all like British wet-cure bacon.

In 2022, the stakes rose. In March, a group of distinguished scientists and MPs from different parties wrote to the government to ask them to phase out nitrates. They argued that the additives were linked to the development of breast, prostate and bowel cancer. They also said that food technology had caught up and that nitrates were no longer needed to make the meats look and taste the way people expect them to. This could mean the end of the era of gray nitrate-free ham.

France said in July 202022 that it would be taking nitrates off the market, and in December, research led by Professor Chris Elliott, a biological sciences professor at Queen’s University Belfast, showed that mice that were fed freeze-dried Herta sausages (which are made into feed pellets) developed 20% more colon tumors than mice that were fed a balanced rodent diet. He and his coworkers are now campaigning for schools and hospitals to stop giving kids and patients nitrates.

Along with smoking, alcohol, and asbestos, processed meat is on the WHO’s list of “known human carcinogens.” However, it’s clear that not all of these things pose the same risk. Smoking is the biggest cause of lung cancer, which leads to 35,000 UK deaths per year. There is a link between drinking and seven types of cancer. It can also cause heart and liver disease and seriously hurt people. Nevertheless, Denis Corpet, professor of food safety and human nutrition in Toulouse, says he never buys so-called nitro-meats. He used to bring cheese and meat with him on mountain hikes, but now he says, “I don’t buy it because we’ve learned so much.” If your diet is anything like the plant-heavy diet of Mediterranean peasants who “couldn’t afford meat very often,” he says, then eating a slice of ham once in a while isn’t that dangerous. His own research shows that eating calcium with processed meat can stop it from turning into cancer. However, this hasn’t been shown in large groups of people yet, so eating cheese and ham together isn’t even close to being official medical advice.

In the meantime, British supermarket offerings remain disappointingly nitrate-heavy. Most big stores do now offer an own-brand nitrate-free bacon. Uncovered sells prosciutto and serrano hams, and Finnebrogue Naked sells nitrate-free bacon and ham. I can also find one ring of nitrite-free chorizo in my local store. Finnebrogue Naked’s bacon is among the most expensive per kilo. And that’s largely it, among shelves upon shelves of nitrates.

Corpet says that France is a little further ahead: “I would say a quarter are nitrate-free now,” and they are

It was Finnebrogue Naked that first demonstrated in the UK in 2018 that nitrate-free bacon butties were possible. The Northern Ireland-based business began by making sausages for M If we have so much pork, we thought, “Why don’t we step in and try to do this the “right” way?” says Jago Pearson, chief strategy officer at Finnebrogue. When the company launched its Naked Bacon (now called Better Naked) brand in 2018, it also started making M Now it’s supplying Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Waitrose, Asda and Morrisons.

Declan Ferguson, Finnebrogue’s research, development, and technical director, says that the secret ingredient they use instead of nitrates is just “fruit and spice extracts.” Prosur, a Spanish company that works with food technology, came up with it. It’s also used in Pilgrim’s UK’s Waitrose Made without Nitrite bacon.

Ferguson says that the meat only needs to be mixed with something to keep it pink. A protein in meat called myoglobin turns red and then brown when it oxidizes. The nitrates stop this from happening. If the bacon went grey-brown, he says, you couldn’t legally sell it as bacon. The Prosur additive is high in antioxidants, which, says Ferguson, also “stops that myoglobin going brown”. It doesn’t slow the curing process or affect shelf life. “It looks like regular bacon at first glance,” he says, “but it’s not as pink as nitrate bacon and ham; it’s more red.” ”.

He says that because bacon wasn’t made in factories, it was either salted or dried with salt. Parma and Serrano ham are made similarly: “The more traditional producers only use salt and drying. He also says that it’s easy to make fermented foods like salami without nitrates, even though microbes are needed for those. “Over time, nitrates have been added to help speed up the process and make something that looks pink and new,” says Ferguson.

After the carcinogen story came out in 2015, many people in the meat industry said that nitrates kept people who liked charcuterie from getting botulism, which is a rare but serious disease caused by toxins made by Clostridium botulinum bacteria. This was not true when Finnebrogue started making bacon and ham without nitrates. It took a lot of time and money to prove this. “We’ve done ‘challenge-testing’, where we put the clostridium botulinum bugs in the bacon,” Ferguson says. “We tested whether it grew and we were able to prove that it didn’t. ”.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) says that nitrates and nitrites “went through a safety assessment prior to being authorized” and are “important preservatives that stop the growth of harmful organisms, especially the bacteria that cause botulism.” However, the agency doesn’t insist on their use. “They are one way that companies can choose to stop the growth of these harmful organisms,” says Adam Hardgrave, head of additives at the FSA. “Other ways include using pH, water activity [which means how much water is available for the bugs to grow], salt, and other food additives.”

There was also the mistaken belief that nitrates added to the flavor, when in fact they don’t give you flavor compounds on their own. We have won multiple awards for the flavour of our bacon. ”.

People in the US have been told they can’t buy “uncured” bacon that has been spiked with celery or other vegetable extracts instead of the E numbers. It may sound healthy, but it’s not. Nitrate can be found in a lot of vegetables, including celery. A concentrated extract can work well in place of the usual additives. However, the finished product still has too many nitrates to be safe, so it can’t be labeled as “uncured” or “no nitrate or nitrite added.”

Prosur’s secret ingredient isn’t the only nitrate-free colour enhancer on the market. Ferguson says that he knows of companies in Spain, France, and Germany that use the same or similar additives to make things look red or pink, such as cherry extracts or green tea.

David Lindars, who is the technical operations director of the British Meat Processors Association, is surprisingly in favor of a future without nitrates. He says that he has found good nitrate-free salami at his local Tesco. He also says there are a lot of new nitrate-free trials going on behind the scenes.

The process does take some time, he says, “because you have to be sure there is no risk to human health.” ” And the products have to match consumer expectation and shelf life. “It’s really expensive, too. You’re looking at circa £15,000 with one of the highly reputable labs. But that’s not even close to how much new production lines cost: Finnebrogue spent £20m to get its up and running.

Lindars says that in traditionally cured meats, “there has been a big push over the last 18 months or so to lower the level of nitrates from 150 parts per million, which is the maximum.” The Co-op and Waitrose are two stores I know of that have lowered their standard product to 60 parts per million. ”.

I no longer eat a lot of meat, but Finnebrogue Naked bacon is just as good as regular sliced bacon as a treat every once in a while. And yes, I still dip my fingers in the hot fat. It’s just as good as the Artysan Chorizo Riojano IGP ring, though I wish there was a spicier version. Like most packaged ham, I find Finnebrogue’s slices too slimy and grainless. There’s still a frustrating lack of choice. “Late this year, new stuff will come out that doesn’t have nitrites in it,” Pearson says, but he won’t say what.

“Where developments tend to lag the most,” says Lindars, “is in food service,” ie takeaways and restaurants. “Because your bacon roll or whatever it is is cooked in the sandwich shop, the laws about how to show customer information are very different.” ” Customers, in turn, are often less rigorous in seeking nutritional information when eating out. “You tend to be in a different frame of mind,” says Lindars. “It’s kind of an impulse buy. ”.

But the sense is that change is in the works, largely because, he says, “the consumer dictates, ultimately. We’re going to buy what we want and what we think is good for us. ”.

Safely Cure Your Meats WITHOUT Nitrites | EcoCure

FAQ

Is there a ham without nitrates?

Can you buy nitrate free ham?

What is the healthiest ham to buy?

Is boar’s head ham nitrate free?

Does natural Ham contain nitrates?

Natural ham does contain nitrites from celery juice, which helps preserve meat. Often, beet juice extract or cherry extract is added to give that pink color. However, celery powder still contains nitrites and nitrates. Therefore, natural ham is not free of nitrates or nitrites.

Are natural nitrates safe for uncured ham?

There is no scientific evidence showing that the natural nitrates in uncured ham are any safer than the synthetic ones used in traditional curing methods. So, for now, the health benefits of using natural preservatives for uncured meat products are unproven.

Is ham high in nitrites?

Ham is one of the highest sources of dietary nitrites, with a single 100 g serving containing approximately 900 mcg of nitrites. This is the source of the iconic pink color of cured hams. Bacon also contains up to 380 mcg of nitrites per 100 g of weight.

How is a natural, nitrate-free ham preserved?

Instead of sodium nitrite, natural or nitrate-free hams are preserved using celery juice powder or celery extract. Celery juice naturally contains nitrite, which helps preserve meat. Celery juice is used to preserve the ham, and sometimes beet juice extract or cherry extract is added to give the ham its characteristic pink color.