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As someone who now reads every ingredient on the label before purchasing any product, I wondered about cured meat products. I have heard so many conflicting arguments on this, so I did my own research. To be transparent, my family and I don’t have any issues eating most cured meats and I do think they are a healthier option, in moderation, than other highly processed foods. I do worry about ingredients and avoid anything with chemicals, which most cured meats include, so this was a great topic to research.

Digging into some history I learned that pork was traditionally cured because it is such a large animal that curing it with salt kept it from spoiling too fast. Before we enjoyed refrigeration, pork was traditionally cured with salt and smoked to help it to stay fresher longer. This was very important to survival for families and also made the pork more palatable.

When pork is cured there are two ways this is done according to USDA labels. There is a natural cure or “nitrite-free” and regularly cured meats. Naturally cured meats still contain nitrites in the form of sea salt or celery powder that have naturally occurring nitrites. Regularly cured meats use sodium nitrite, which is a chemically made nitrite source. Nitrates are less commonly used and have been linked to cancer. Nitrates and Nitrites are used to keep the pink color in pork, but more importantly to reduce bacterial growth during the aging process. There is an argument by pork producers that the pink color cannot be achieved without this and that consumers will not purchase pork that have a more gray color. Traditional methods have been able to achieve the pink color, but most producers do not want to spend the amount of time curing necessary (up to 18 months).

To decide which is better comes down to the consumer. Obviously if you are health conscious, you’ll be more inclined to purchase the naturally cured meats. But, as a health-conscious person, you should still look at the ingredients and know if they are good for you. Celery powder can have higher amounts of naturally occurring nitrites than chemically created sodium nitrite. We get the majority of nitrates in our diet from vegetables, so it makes sense that celery powder is a large source.

Sodium Chloride is just the chemical name for salt, so seeing it on a label for cured meats isn’t a big red flag. If the package says sea salt, then you can know it may be a step above table salt. Most naturally cured meats will also have a list or herbs and spices used as well. If you do see “natural flavors” on a package, you may want to do a little more research. Technically it means that the flavoring came from a natural food source such as a fruit or vegetable, but it was most likely done in a lab using many techniques to extract the flavor. They are still much better than artificial flavors that most likely are petroleum based.

If I’ve learned anything, we tend to try and make everything better and more efficient. From researching, it really comes down to how the pigs are raised that will have the greatest effect on your body’s reactions to eating pork products. Raising pigs inside facilities on cheap corn and soybean feed allows producers to produce a lot of pork at a minimal cost. The problem is that these pigs are being raised on a diet that is full of chemicals from what is used to grow commercial corn and soy plants. The other major problem is they do not get sunlight, so they are deficient in vitamin D which is a natural antioxidant. This leads to the pork produced being full of chemicals that will then be transferred to the consumer. Curing the meat using poor ingredients will make the likelihood of carcinogens higher.

My personal conclusion from researching this is that I will stick with uncured meats and continue to consume naturally cured meats from pork raised well. We prefer to add our own flavorings and marinades anyways, so we are happy to add our own sea salt, herbs, and spices. The only pork that we really do enjoy cured is ham and we do enjoy that sparingly. I still believe that everything is good in moderation and variety is key to health. I also am so proud and thankful that we raise and provide healthy meats for our family and community. I hope that we can always continue doing this and feel great about what we are eating.

Please do your own research and decide for yourself though! I’ve included links to my favorite articles for information, but there are many out there!

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/why-processed-meat-is-bad#TOC_TITLE_HDR_9

https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/food-features/save-your-bacon/#gsc.tab=0&gsc.sort=

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/01/bacon-cancer-processed-meats-nitrates-nitrites-sausages

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