All chemicals are dubious.... herbs might be the right choice..

Hi Seema, thanks for your answer. Nitrites impart an antimicrobial factor agains "clostridium botulinum" in addition help in the cured step of processed meat so do you know some herbs with this capability? if so can you recommend a paper or share information please.

I hope to visit the links below

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/0559/a7cb91095651ec052f3b58d5f2e575e899e6.pdf

Article New composite nitrite-free and low-nitrite meat-curing syste...

Hi Mohamed, thanks for share this information it will be very helpful.

Hello German!

In this review of one of the journals with the greatest impact factor in the area of food science and technology, several alternatives for reducing sodium nitrite are mentioned: plant-based alternatives, organic acids, bacteriocins and other microbial sources and high hydrostatic pressure .

Here the link:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0924224415001429

Regards!

Hello Juan

This review is very interesting and contain the information that I need, I will explore some of this options. Thanks for share.

Regards!

Is it known what fruit and spice extracts are used in this nitrite-free bacon in the UK?

What are ingredients added for antimicrobial activity?

Is the "cured" color only from added colorants, or is something chemically binding with the myoglobin to created the color?

No information on the Prosur website.

"Finnebrogue, currently a leading sausage and venison supplier to top UK supermarkets, has worked with a Spanish chemist to develop a new way of flavouring traditional British bacon without nitrites – something that has never been done before.

The natural flavour is produced from natural Mediterranean fruit and spice extracts, following ten years of research and development.

Juan de Dios Hernandez Canovas, Chief Executive of the Spanish company Prosur which developed the new technology"

http://www.finnebrogue.com/naked/2017/12/28/nitrite-free-bacon-launches-in-major-british-breakthrough-for-food-safety/

you can use leek. Leek is one of natural plant contains nitrite and can be used as a natural source of nitrite in meat products.

Nitrite is an essential ingredient used in the curing of meat products. It is responsible for the characteristic color, flavor and extended shelf-life and microbial stability of cured products. However, it is also responsible for the production of carcinogenicN-nitrosamines in certain cured products under some processing conditions. Nitrite-free meat products such as wieners and salami have been prepared using curing systems consisting of the preformed cooked cured-meat pigment, CCMP, an antioxidant, a sequestrant and an antimicrobial agent. The color, oxidative stability, and flavor of the cooked treated products, as determined by HunterL, a, b values, 2-thiobarbituric acid (TBA) test, and sensory means, respectively, were similar to those of their nitrite-cured counterparts. Absence ofN-nitrosamines in the nitrite-free cooked products was confirmed using a gas chromatography-thermal energy analyzer (GC-TEA) methodology. Similar results were obtained when the above nitrite-free curing mixtures were used in fish-based products, where nitrite curing produced substantial amounts ofN-nitrosodimethylamine. Furthermore, rates of color fading of samples treated with either CCMP or nitrite were similar, thus suggesting that presence of residual nitrite in processed meats may not be necessary for color stability of such products.

I think, herbs might be the right choice for that.

regards

Dear Walker Stockley, yes there are chemical reactions that have strong influence in color, in the website seems that this product have a solution without adding nitrites directly, but is neccesary to be sure that all the functions are accomplish, texture, color, flavor and antimicrobial activity. Is this solution is functional for several meat products? the solution without nitrites (herbs, extracts) impart flavor? In Mexico, we have meat products with different formulations that in UK, in general european meat products have a high content of meat but is not the same in Mexico, the majority of our formulas have low meat content. The good new is that if in UK there are products without nitrite it's mean that is possible to develop.

Dear Engy Zaki, the paper seems to be very interest it's the kind of information that I am looking for, thanks!

Hi Wisan, absence of N-nitrosamines in the nitrite-free cooked products is the key for the development of new products, there is no real solution if we eliminate the nitrite additive and the new additive (natural or not) have the same cancer potential, thanks for you commentary.

Hi Khalid, yes it's possible to obtain the answer from herbs just we need to be 100% sure about the absence of N-nitrosamines as Wisan commented. Although the raw matter is natural there are nitrites in herbs and could be react to form N-nitrosamines.

Succinic acid accelerates the reaction of denitrification and color formation in meat and, in addition, loosens the molecular structure of muscle proteins.

Succinic acid as a reducing agent, easily yielding two hydrogen ions and accelerating the course of the denitrification reaction.

By giving hydrogen to metmyoglobin, succinic acid passes into fumaric acid, and metmyoglobin passes into the myoglobin, which gives the meat product a purple color. This ensures the appearance of a bright color in meat products.

Succinic acid promotes the course of denitrification itself, in the presence of its nintrosopigments (NO-hemoglobin) is well resistant to the oxidative action of air oxygen, which stabilizes the color.

Succinic acid is a weak organic acid, odorless and with little pH shift. Adding it to the product does not cause changes in its taste and the appearance of an extraneous smell.

Succinic acid, added to meat, promotes the activation of the activity of proteolytic and oxidation-reduction enzymes of meat, which leads to loosening of the molecular structure of muscle proteins, an increase in the digestibility of protein substances in meat by the body.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Engy_Zaki/post/Could_someone_please_tell_me_if_there_is_an_nitrite_alternative_for_proceesed_meat_products_as_a_ham_or_sausages/attachment/5aeab8d94cde260d15dc62f7/AS%3A622102424084481%401525332184968/download/ZAKI512018JAFSAT5993.pdf