Sodium nitrate / nitrite

[Hawnjigs]

Friend back in HI Dwight just mentioned today how one of our contemporaries died of stomach cancer some time ago.  Ron was also his partner in a seafood bizness specializing in poke, a favored local raw fish dish made with aku (skipjack tuna), ahi (yellowfin tuna), and sometimes marlin.  Ron's task was to dry the day's leftover poke into a kind of jerky, adding sodium nitrate to preserve the red color of raw tunas which would otherwise turn an unappetizing dark color when dried.  Dwight noticed Ron always partook of his creations when making, and speculates that overindulgence may have contributed to his eventual fatal malady.

Personally, I take the abundant warnings about meat preservatives seriously and very seldom partake of bacon, ham, jerky, & sausage with those ingredients.  I know, like poke jerky all the aforementioned are DELICIOUS but I appreciated Dwight's reminder.

 

[Bucho]

Sodium Nitrate as such is not harmful. The carzogenic nitrosamines that derive from it need high temperatures and protien to develope. We are speaking fried bacon here, not raw tuna. As a butcher`s son, I would be surprised to hear of Nitrate-free bacon. I avoid nitraded meat at BBQs however.

 

[Superdave336]

My cousin actually has problems eating anything with nitrites/nitrates. We have stopped buying most of our meats with them. We shop at Aldi and they have a brand called “Never Any” that does not have them added. We get the bacon, sausage, hot dogs, etc. We also make sure to get our sandwich meats without them. Not entirely sure why, just know I’ve been told they are bad.

 

[Bucho]

Sounds oddly good to read about "Aldi" in the U.S. I wish our Aldi had such brand too. Everybody here is so concernd about low-footprint-vegan food that "healthy meat" sounds like a contradiction in itself to any self-respecting environmentalist.

It is good to talk about this with people outside our society.

 

[Superdave336]

I just saw your from Germany. I guess the “never any” is a regional thing? We also have pretty close by a Lidl store which is brand new. Haven’t been there yet but it’s a German based grocery store as well. We sure do love Aldi though. The nitrate/nitrite free thing is pretty popular here. More and more brands and items going that way.

 

[Bucho]

Aldi has an iconic reputation over here. When I went to business school back in the early 90ties, it was still a true blooded discounter. They listed not more than 800 or so items which the cashier learned by heart and tipped in on sight. That was cheaper and worked faster than a laser bar code. Impressive to watch. They just shoved euro pallets full of merchandise right from the truck into the market. Two employees would often run an entire outlet.

The staff was very self dependend, highly motivated and surprisingly well paid. The system was so effecient that reasonably to decent quality products were sold about 30-50% under regular prices with good profit. The Albrecht brothers were considered the richest Germans alive and ranked relatively high even on the international list. Some high brand products were sold under Aldi brands because the customers would have been too irritated by finding the same product being sold with such different pricing, making fine examples of "cognitive dissonance" for our marketing lecture. Some say Aldi was the best thing that ever happened to working class which means a lot for a bunch of billionairs in an outspokenly capitalsm-sceptical country. 

Lidl started to mix in a few "dealbreaker" brands s.a. nutella chocolate spread that some people just wouldn`t go without. Today however, all food markets here offer no-name discount brands and all discounters have risen the bar and hardly differ from regular grocery stores any more.

I find it interesting how customer concerns differ. Over here, genetical engeneering is a big issue. Since America is leading in this regard and Europe is way behind, I always assumed that was a soft trade barrier rather than a real health concern.

 

[Hawnjigs]

GMOs are a complicated issue, but to be on the safe side I choose organic when available at a reasonable price. Impossible to avoid here in Nebraska, since farmers are liable for patent infringement if their heirloom corn or other crop gets contaminated by GMO pollen drift giving them no choice but to grow GMO varieties. Farmers have given in, hooked by supposed higher yields, disease & pesticide resistance of GMOs. I'm at this moment enjoying drowned wild turkey that showed up this morning at my fishing spot. Its crop was full of, you guessed it. Given the abundance and convenience of farmed corn, I'd guess its the mainstay staple of game birds and hoofed mammals. So much for healthy wild game...

 

[Bucho]

, since  farmers are liable for patent infringement if their heirloom corn or other crop gets contaminated by GMO pollen drift giving them no choice but to grow GMO varieties.

Now THAT is interesting!

 

[hookup]

I luv charcuterie and have cured my own for along time using pink salt

Recently back off of all charcuterie meats because of the high salt content and high blood pressure

It there was a problem with sodium nitrate consumption, I'd probably know about it by now