Pretreatments for Meats II (Curing , Smoking) Chapter 7

N.GRAIVER, A. PINOTTI, A. CALIFANO Y N. ZARITZKY

Operations in Food Refrigeration- Contemporary Food Engineering Series. Ed. R.H. Mascheroni.

CRC Press. Taylor & Francis Group

Año: 2012; p. 135 - 172

Meat curing is a process in which a combination of salt, color fixing ingredients and seasoning are used to achieve unique properties in the final product. Cured meat products are characterized by addition of nitrate and/or nitrite, whereas other ingredients, particularly sodium chloride (salt), are essential parts of typical cured meat formulations. Nitrates and nitrites, either potassium or sodium salts, are used to develop cured meat color. They impart a bright reddish, pink color, which is desirable in a cured product. In addition, nitrates and nitrites have a pronounced effect on flavor; sodium nitrites also prevent the growth of food poisoning microorganisms.