Cured Meat Products
Practical Action
Cured, dried and smoked meat products are each suitable for small-scale production, provided
that careful attention is paid to hygiene, whereas ground meat and uncured meat products
require greater expertise and care, and these are not included in this Technical Brief.
Cleaning and sanitation
Good hygiene and sanitation is essential in all types of meat processing. Bacteria can rapidly
spoil meat if processing is not done quickly and properly and it is essential that hygienic food
handling is carried out with these products. In general inexperienced people should not process
meats and training in hygienic food handling should be given (e.g. by a local Bureau of
Standards) to all staff to minimise risks associated with these products.
Equipment should be thoroughly cleaned after each day’s production, using a cleaning schedule
that indicates which equipment is to be cleaned, who is responsible for cleaning it, how it should
be cleaned, and who is responsible for checking that cleaning has been done properly. All
equipment should be washed with hot water and a detergent that is recommended for use with
meat products, then a disinfectant (or sanitiser) and then rinsed with chlorinated water.
Equipment and surfaces should be allowed to dry in the air, because wiping with cloths can re-
contaminate them. If they are available, brushes with coloured bristles are preferred because the
coloured material can be seen easily if it is lost in machinery or in the product. At the end of a
working day, a slight ‘chlorine’ odour in the processing room indicates that it has been properly
cleaned. A summary of guidelines on hygiene and sanitation is given in Technical Brief: Hygiene
and safety rules in food processing.
Legislation
In most countries, the legislation for processing meats is more stringent than for many other
types of food. In addition to general regulations that govern labelling, weights and measures and
hygiene when handling foods, special regulations may govern the manufacture and sale of meat
products. There may also be legal limits on the amount of sodium nitrate/nitrite in the final
products (typically 250 -500 mg/kg (ppm) of sodium nitrate and 150 - 200 mg/kg (ppm) of
sodium nitrite). Meat processors should contact the responsible Ministry for copies of national
regulations related to their products, and if necessary get advice from a university food science
department or Bureau of Standards to clarify what the regulations mean. They should also obtain
a Health Permit from the Ministry of Health or Local Authority that licenses the premises for
food production, obtain a Manufacturing Licence from the Local Authority or Ministry of
Industry, and obtain Medical Certificates from the Health Authority to certify that all workers are
fit to handle food.
Methods of processing
The main methods used to process cured meats at a small-scale are as follows:
Curing followed by chilling or cool storage (e.g. ham/salted pork, bacon).
Curing and drying (e.g. biltong).
Curing and smoking (e.g. smoked bacon or smoked pork).
1) Curing: Salted Meats
A traditional method of salting meats such as pork, beef or chicken is to cut the meat into pieces,
dip them in a saturated salt solution (to make a saturated solution, add salt until some crystals
do not dissolve). Then press the pieces to remove excess water. The pieces are then rubbed with
dry salt, wrapped tightly in cloth that is tied tightly with rope and hung in the air to allow water to
drip away. The salted meat is partly dried and has a high salt content, both of which act as
preservatives. It is cooked before consumption after thoroughly washing out the salt. The product
can be kept for about a month before a rancid taste develops. An alternative method is to pack
the salted meat into covered drums. Initially the meat may need to be weighed down, but after
about 7 days, meat juices are released and form a strong brine in which the meat is submerged.
Salt levels are 12 - 18% in the final product and it can be preserved for up to 3 - 4 months
under ambient conditions. After this, fat oxidation causes rancid off-flavours.
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