The following information was issued by the University of Arkansas’ Food Safety Consortium, titled, “
Vinegar, Natural Source of Nitrate Provides Way to Safeguard Organic Pork.”
The release advises of a solution to manufacture natural or organic cured pork products, without using nitrite or nitrate. (If nitrite or nitrate is used, these products cannot be labeled natural or organic.) According to the release, Dr. Joe Sebranek of Iowa State University, with support from the University of Arkansas’ Food Safety Consortium, found a solution by incorporating vinegar with lactate and vinegar with lemon powder (natural antimicrobial ingredients) into naturally cured pork products. The results indicate that bacterial pathogens, such as Listeria monocytogenes, were inhibited in the naturally cured pork products, but not to an equivalent level as in conventionally cured pork products. Dr. Sebranek notes, “…With a naturally fermented vinegar product, you have a mixture of organic acids. It’s not typically used as a preservative but it provides some of the organic acids that are recognized antimicrobials. There’s a mixture in that kind of a product that essentially provides a preservative effect.”