Safety and checks

In short

• Five control points: raw material, cold, salt and nitrite, time, finished product. Each has a limit and a measure.
• Thermometer and scale are checked before the season: the thermometer in iced water shows 0 °C (32 °F), and the scale shows 1,000 g for 1 L of water.
• Nitrite: at most roughly 80 mg per kg of meat in this series (Regulation (EU) 2023/2108; check the rules where you live). Arithmetic: g of curing salt × % nitrite × 10 = mg per kg.
• When in doubt, throw it out. Don't taste suspect food, don't give it to animals and don't "save" it by cooking.
• Botulism: double vision, drooping eyelids, difficulty speaking and swallowing. Call 999/112 (UK, Ireland) or 911 (US, Canada) at once.
• Pregnant women, babies, small children, the elderly and the ill eat salted meat, fish and white cheese only cooked.

What's inside

Chapters

1. What can go wrong
2. Five control points
3. Thermometer and scale
4. Nitrite: arithmetic, limit and storage
5. Checks by eye and nose, and when to throw out
6. Botulism: signs and what to do
7. Who doesn't eat raw salted food
8. Traceability: batch, label, log
9. Giving and selling
10. The yearly check
11. Common mistakes
12. Printable checklist

Worksheets

• Control point plan
• Nitrite calculator
• Temperature log
• Equipment check log
• "When to throw out" chart
• Check calendar
• Emergency contacts
• Labels for curing salt