Page 4 - Spring2012

Letters

the nitrates. While it seems a safer al- very same nitrate level that everyone is was all right if I wasn’t exerting myself
ternative, nothing could be further from trying to avoid by purchasing the un- but if I tried to do anything that involved
the truth. cured bacon is above, sometimes well moving or lifting I had very little oxygen
As far as your body’s chemistry is above, that contained in the conventional getting into my system. Not sure if it was
concerned and for the curing process, a brands. instinctive or if the effects were more
nitrate is a nitrate is a nitrate. It doesn’t In her article Beverly alluded to the severe after breakfast but I had a notion
matter if it is a chemically produced ni- fact that some people report adverse re- that the uncured bacon had something to
trate or nitrate from celery juice powder. actions to meat cured with celery juice. do with the reaction. I eliminated bacon
So the notion that uncured bacon has no I happen to be one of those people. So- from my diet and within a few days the
added nitrates or nitrites is completely dium nitrite in its pure form is dangerous symptoms completely subsided and I’ve
false advertising; on the contrary, they since it is an anti-oxidant. It would hap- had no further health issues.
are loaded with nitrates. pen something like this. You eat a couple In my opinion uncured bacon with
Now here’s where it starts to get a teaspoons of the stuff, and within a short celery juice powder is a loaded gun. If
little crazy. There is no way to gauge while, your cells asphyxiate because nitrates are indeed a cause of cancer then
how much nitrate is in celery juice pow- your body can no longer carry oxygen. people are getting it in large doses with
der. Conventional bacon production uses This is known as blue baby syndrome the uncured bacon. And since there is
chemical nitrate so they know exactly or cyanosis. no way to gauge how much nitrate is in
how much is added to the pork for cur- During the curing process sodium celery juice powder, the odds of getting
ing, based on parts per million. In fact nitrate (NO ) is reduced or changed into dangerous amounts of nitrites (causing
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when chemical nitrates are utilized the sodium nitrite (NO ). The nitrate-to- a cyanosis type reaction) is fairly high.
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FDA and USDA mandate how much the nitrite process happens in a relatively With an unknown quantity such as
processor can put into the bacon, how short period of time and it is the sodium celery juice I’m sure the bacon proces-
little they can put in and how much is nitrite that does all of the work ensuring sors feel it is better to weigh in on the
left over. However because celery juice the meat is preserved and the consumer side of too much than not enough since
powder is considered a natural additive, does not get botulism. If the meat is al- preventing botulism is their first prior-
there are no restrictions or mandates to lowed to continue curing, as with salami ity. Unfortunately the “too much” has a
follow. It’s as though the nitrates were and other cured meat products that hang whole other set of health issues.
never added. When it comes to how from one month to one year, the sodium With regard to nitrate and nitrite
much nitrate is being added to uncured nitrites eventually convert to harmless levels, conventional bacon is hands
bacon with celery juice it’s a complete nitric oxide (NO) with only residual down the better choice. To avoid the
crapshoot. It’s a loophole that gives amounts of nitrites left in the meat. nitrate-nitrite issue altogether I’d rec-
the meat producers one less inspector In uncured meats there is no extended ommend purchasing bacon cured in
looking over their shoulder but leaves curing process. The bacon goes from salt. While sea salt has trace amounts of
the door wide open for possible health the processing facility to the grocer’s sodium nitrate, it would not be enough
issues. shelf to your table. The consumer ends to cause health issues. Your best bet is
In 2010, Cook’s Illustrated tested up getting a full dose of sodium nitrite. to contact a local farmer with free range
different types of bacon and found that And since there are more nitrates in the pigs, have the bacon portion of the pig
two brands of "nitrate-free" bacon had uncured bacon by way of celery juice cured the old traditional method in salt,
significantly more nitrates than their powder you end up ingesting dangerous maple syrup, a few spices and smoked
conventional counterparts. The residual amounts of sodium nitrites. to your liking.
levels in the "uncured" bacons tested The adverse reaction I was suffer- Archie Welch
were all above the allowed levels in the ing from was cyanosis. I couldn’t catch Clarkston, Michigan
conventional way of processing. So the my breath and I felt like I was dying. I
4 Wise Traditions SPRING 2012 SPRING 2012 Wise Traditions

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