Day 039 - 20 Oct 94 - Page 25
1 A. Yes, indeed.
2
3 Q. At the level it is used, its primary role seems to be that
4 rather than protective against botulism?
5 A. That is certainly the impression I had. I have looked
6 into this matter, and I have the impression that the
7 minimum required to inhibit bacteria are rather lower than
8 those being used. Now, one argument that industry uses is,
9 well, they want a margin of safety. You get variability in
10 the production process. Botulism is an extremely nasty
11 infection. It can be fatal. It is, therefore, important
12 to be as sure as we can be that sufficient preservative is
13 used to prevent that.
14
15 I suspect, however, that industry has taken advantage of
16 the colouring properties in nitrates and using them at
17 higher levels that are strictly necessary to inhibit the
18 development of botulism, because it contributes to the pink
19 quality of processed meat. If you preserve pork in salt
20 (sodium chloride) in a saline solution without Sodium
21 Nitrite you get a relatively grey end product of pork. But
22 if you preserve it with nitrite you get a familiar pink
23 colour.
24
25 But, as I have pointed out in my text, in the United
26 States, but not in this country, it is possible to obtain
27 nitrite free bacon. I have myself bought it and enjoyed
28 it. It is distributed and sold frozen. It does have only
29 -- its colouring is slightly less pink than that to which
30 we are accustomed but not unattractively coloured.
31 Since -----
32
33 Q. Sorry, so the use of nitrites i.e. Sodium Nitrite and
34 Potassium Nitrate in pork is not strictly necessary?
35 A. Well, it is not strictly necessary. If what you trying
36 to do is avoid the development of Clostridium botulinum and
37 if you freeze it and maintain it at low temperatures ----.
38
39 Q. Or use salt?
40 A. Yes, I would think that an organisation ----
41
42 Q. I did not want to go into it in depth.
43 A. I think it is, perhaps, worth remarking that an
44 organisation with the kinds of controls and distribution
45 chains that McDonald's have, and the rapid throughput of
46 materials, would, I expect, be in a position to use -- to
47 have a reliable and safe frozen chain and could use
48 nitrite-free bacon if they chose to; whereas one would not
49 necessarily wish to be confident in recommending that to
50 ordinary domestic consumption where people did not have
51 such reliable refrigeration and such tight controls on
52 their production process.
53
54 Q. Just to ask you a further question on Sodium Nitrite and
55 Potassium Nitrate; you did mention a number of
56 intolerances.
57 A. All I can say about that is that I am aware that
58 organisations such as the Hyperactive Children Support
59 Group have received and collected such reports.
60
