AMSA announces white paper on sodium nitrites in meat processing
The American Meat Science Association Scientific Information Committee recently completed the work on a much anticipated white paper, “Sodium Nitrite in Processed Meat and Poultry Meats: A Review of Curing and Examining the Risk or Benefit of Its Use,” written by AMSA members Drs. Jeffery Sindelar and Andrew Milkowski. The American Meat Science Association commissioned this report to bring clarity to the discussion currently taking place within the meat industry and with policy makers and consumers concerning the use of sodium nitrite in processed meat and poultry meats.
Curing with nitrite has been used, essentially, for thousands of years to produce safe and nutritious products and to effectively preserve meat. Since the controversies about the safety of nitrite that started in the mid-20th century, much has been learned about nitrite and heme chemistry and the overall metabolism of nitrogen oxides in humans.