good news for new yorkers
I first became aware of nitrites and nitrates during my years as an aquarist/fishkeeper.
Nitrites and Nitrates are deadly to the fish population in an aquarium.
Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate: (The Nitrogen Cycle)
You do tank cycling when setting up an aquaium, by adding Ammonia to the water, to start developing nitrites and then nitrates, regularly testing until the ammonia and nitries are at zero, and the nitrates less than 20ppm.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=
Nitrites are NO2 …Nitrates are NO3
Nitrate is an intermediate oxidation state between Ammonium NH4+ and N2 gas in the Nitrogen cycle.
Nitrites are toxic to fish above 0ppm
Nitrates are safe up to 20ppm.
This is why aquarists accidentally kill their fish in the early days of setting up their aquarium.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
If they kill fish what is the harm to humans.
Here in the UK I only eat cured meat that has no nitrites or nitrates.
Over the last 10 years, I have seen an explosion of companies offering nitrate and nitrite free products.
The bacon, sausages and Prosciutto I eat, is cured with apple juice.
A few years ago the EU brought in legislation to substantially reduce or remove nitrite and nitrate use from the food industry.
I’m all for reducing the cancer risk using an apple juice substitute.
Plus its of benefit to those on ketogenic diets, as we do consume a huge amount of meats, especially bacon for breakfast.
From the original source : https://www.nyc.gov/assets/doh/downloads/pdf/cardio/cardio-meals-snacks-standards.pdf
Meat that has been transformed to enhance flavor or improve preservation by curing (to add salt, sugar, or any source of nitrates or nitrites, including those listed in CFR Title 21 Subpart B, celery-based products, wine, Swiss chard-based products, lactic acid starter culture, cherry-based products, vegetable juice powder, or rosemary extract to meat for color development, flavor enhancement, preservation, or safety), fermentation (to add fermentative bacteria to meat to add flavor or stop the growth of harmful organisms), salting (to preserve meat with sodium), or smoking (to expose meat to smoke from burning wood or apply liquid smoke ingredients to meat). Adapted from the World Health Organization: who.int/newsroom/questions-and-answers/item/cancer-carcinogenicity-of-the-consumption-of-red-meat-and-processed-meat.
Since this advice is based on the WHO position statement, here is a rebuttal of that position statement from a panel member who was there. What is the role of meat in a healthy diet? - 2018
but TLDR - actually industrial processed meat: nitrates, liquid smoke, sugar, natural flavors are probably not great, but the data isn’t compelling
But salt, and grounding: there is no credible evidence against.
