Bacon Curing Research Articles

Intelligent Injection Curing of Bacon

Much of the meat we enjoy to eat, undergoes a curing process for preservation, tenderizing, flavoring, and presentation purposes. Curing on an industrial scale is commonly done by injecting brine, a solution of salt and other ingredients, into the meat. Current methods rely on manual control of process settings. Natural variations, between and within meat pieces, are ignored resulting in sub-optimal dosing and distribution of brine. Were the process parameters instead to be adapted to the individual meat piece and the specific area, yield and quality could be improved. This paper reports research to investigate the fundamental aspects of the injection process, constructs a process model for existing machines and proposes a self-calibrating controller based on Reinforcement Learning. A vision based robotic injection system is presented for experimentation with the injection process, with the specific purpose of determining the potential for adapting process parameters to the natural variation in the meat pieces.

The leading manufacturing firms in the Irish Free State in 1929

AbstractThe manufacturing sector of the 1920s Irish Free State was substantially more complex in structure than occasional references to a ‘beer and biscuits’ economy suggest. There were nine factories employing 500 workers or more in 1929, while the larger firms in sectors such as bacon curing, flour milling and fertilisers each operated more than a single factory. This article identifies the largest manufacturing firms and establishments of the era, as well as the largest within each industrial sector. Twenty-two firms had workforces of a minimum of around 400. Three of the five largest were foreign subsidiaries, the most significant of which – the Ford Motor Company – employed, at one stage, more than twice as many workers as Guinness. Of the larger indigenous companies, the majority were Protestant-owned, though Catholic-owned firms dominated in certain industrial segments.

The Pig in Irish Cuisine and Culture

The Pig in Irish Cuisine and Culture

Proteolytic and lipolytic activities of Micrococcus roseus (65), Halomonas elongata (16) and Vibrio sp. (168) isolated from Danish bacon curing brines

Viable cells, cell free extracts and extracellular concentrates of Micorcoccus roseus (65), Halomonas elongata (16) and Vibrio sp. (168) isolated from Danish bacon curing brines were examined for lipase, esterase, proteinase and aminopeptidase activities on natural and synthetic substrates. Micrococcus roseus (65) produced one intracellular esterase with affinity for short chain esters, and two intracellular aminopeptidases with affinity for nonpolar amino acids and l-arginine, respectively. One extracellular esteracellular aminopeptidase with affinity for l-proline was also observed. Three intracellular esterases with affinity for short chain esters and a membrane bound esterase with affinity for butyric to capric esters were found in Halomonas elongata (16), but almost no aminopeptidase acitivity was found. Vibrio sp. (168) had four intracellular esterases with affinity for short chain esters and one esterase with affinity for all tested esters. Furthermore, an enzyme, which did not migrate on electrophoretic gels, had activity on all examined esters and tributyrin. Small intracellular activity on l-alanine was observed for this bacterial strain. There was no proteinase activities in the tested bacteria.

Model System Studies on N-Nitrosamine Formation in Cured Meats: The Effect of Curing Solution Ingredients

Solutes commonly employed in curing solutions were evaluated for their effect on nitrosamine formation utilizing a ground pork model system. Sodium erythorbate and sodium ascorbate were found to be equally effective in reducing nitrosopyrrolidine levels. The incorporation of sodium tripolyphosphate or sucrose had no detectable effect on nitrosamine formation. However, sodium chloride, the solute present at the highest concentration in bacon curing solutions, exhibited a concentration dependent inhibition of nitrosopyrrolidine formation. Nitrosopyrrolidine levels in samples containing no added sodium chloride were found to be 50% higher than samples processed with 1.5% added salt.

The effect of antioxidants on the production of volatile nitrosamines during the frying of bacon.

In model system studies simulating the frying of bacon a considerable variation in the production of N-nitrosopyrrolidine (NOPyr) has been observed, as occurs in sliced bacon fried conventionally. The inclusion of ascorbate or erythorbate (isoacorbate) has led consistently to a fall in or an elimination of NOPyr production up to an addition of 300 ppm (1,5 mM). Above this concentration of ascorbate, the elimination of NOPyr formation persisted in some instances but in others an increased production of the nitrosamine occurred. Using alpha-tocopherol, a fall of NOPyr production during the simulated frying of bacon was obtained with increase of concentration of the antioxidant, there being a consistent elimination of the volatile nitrosamine following an additionof 500 ppm (1.16 mM). Whilst ascorbyl palmitate had a similar action in reducing or eliminating NOPyr production, no synergistic effect between it and alpha-tocopherol was noted in an experiment combining the two antioxidants. When bacon was fried in fat containing 400 or 800 ppm alpha-tocopherol, the total production of NOPyr and DMN in the fried bacon, cooked out fat and condensate was markedly reduced but not completely eliminated as in the model system studies. Similarly, the curing of bacon with a brine containing a mixture of alpha-tocopherol, ascorbyl palmitate and citric acid has led to considerable reductions in NOPyr and DMN output on frying when the combined concentrations of the two anti-oxidants were calculated to be 800 ppm.

Influence of ascorbic acid and ph on the formation of n‐nitrosodimethylamine in cured pork containing added dimethylamine

AbstractUnder laboratory conditions simulating normal bacon curing, the conversion to N‐nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) of dimethylamine (DMA) added to pork, was 0.1%. Addition of sodium ascorbate to the brine was shown to suppress NDMA formation from added DMA in this simulated curing system and in experimental curing of pork middles spiked with DMA. Heating, by canning or frying, resulted in the formation of small amounts of NDMA in the lean and considerably higher concentrations in the fried fat. However, the lowest amounts of NDMA were found in the bacon cured in the presence of ascorbate.

Single cereal diets for bacon pigs 1. The effects of diets based on barley, wheat, maize meal, flaked maize or sorghum on performance and carcass characteristics

SUMMARYTwo experiments were carried out to compare the performance and carcass quality of pigs given diets based on barley, wheat or maize meal, and another two experiments comparing these cereals, flaked maize and sorghum. In general, differences in the utilization of feed for live-weight gain could be related to differences in the digestible energy content of the cereals used in the diet, although in some experiments pigs behaved atypically on individual diets. Flaked maize was consistently inferior to the other cereals in the efficiency of conversion of its digestible energy, possibly because of its poorer amino acid balance and its low levels of lysine and tryptophan in relation to energy. Differences between experiments in the performance of pigs fed on the various diets are also discussed. Differences between treatments in killing-out percentage and predicted lean percentage were small, and carcasses of pigs from all treatments were acceptable for bacon curing.

Characteristics of staphylococci and micrococci isolated in a bacon curing factory.

Summary. The majority of 164 strains of staphylococci and micrococci isolated from fresh pork, curing brines and bacon fell into Shaw subgroups 2 and 3. The strains were tolerant to nitrite, but this was toxic in high concentration, particularly at low pH. Although arginine was attacked by many strains, there was little decarboxylase or deaminase activity with the other amino acids tested. The heat resistance of the strains was generally < 30 min at 60°. The lipolytic activity of the bacon isolates was studied using tributyrin, lard, butter, triolein and palm kernel oil as substrates. The hydrolysis of tributyrin occurred with a number of strains in the presence of 5% of salt, 2% of potassium nitrate and 100 p of sodium nitrite/m and at 4°.

An Examination of the Value of Adding Peptone to Diluents Used in the Bacteriological Testing of Bacon Curing Brines

The organisms present in Wiltshire curing brines have been shown to die in various diluents. The addition of 0·1% of peptone aided survival, but did not completely remove the bactericidal effect. Diluents at pH 6–7 gave better survival than those at pH 5.

The Action of Salts and other Substances Used in the Curing of Bacon and Ham

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Reports and other Publications

Great Britain and Ireland Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. Bulletin No. 127: Home Curing of Bacon and Hams; a Manual of Theory and Practice for Instructors and Others. Compiled by the Small Pig Keepers' Council. Pp. ii+57+4 plates. (London: H.M. Stationery Office.) 1s. 3d net. [281

British Food Journal Volume 43 Issue 5 1941

British Food Journal Volume 43 Issue 5 1941

British Food Journal Volume 42 Issue 9 1940

British Food Journal Volume 42 Issue 9 1940

Flavour of Bacon

THE Department of Scientific and Industrial Research has issued a report describing work carried out for the Food Investigation Board on the importance of various factors responsible for the production of flavour in bacon and bam (Food Investigation Special Report No. 49. “The Function of Nitrate, Nitrite, and Bacteria in the Curing of Bacon and Ham”. H.M. Stationery Office. 9d.net). Curing of pork for bacon and ham was originally a process of dry salting. Now, the pickle used is liquid, and the process is supplemented by injecting the pickle into the tissues of the carcass. The traditional pickling materials-salt and saltpetre-are still used in Great Britain, but it has long been known that the ‘cured colour’ is due to the formation of nitrite by the action of bacteria upon the saltpetre. The nitrite formed reacts with the blood colouring matter present to form a special pigment, nitroso-haemoglobin. It is shown that a satisfactory English bacon can be made- by using only sodium chloride and sodium nitrite in the pickle, and that bacteria and nitrate are not essential for the development of the flavour. A very small content of free nitrite, as low as ten parts per million in the final product, is sufficient to produce a satisfactory flavour and colour. The report indicates the possibility of recasting the present practice so as to give the curer better control over the quality of this product.

Variations in the Skeletal Structure of the Pig

HAVING observed marked variations in the lengths of exhibition carcases of swine used for bacon curing, Prof. A. M. Shaw, of the University of Saskatchewan, suspected that the difference might be due to variations in the numbers of ribs. He accordingly counted them and found that, of nine carcases exhibited, two possessed 16 pairs of fully developed ribs, four possessed 15 pairs, while the remaining three carcases possessed 14 pairs of fully developed ribs each.