-r-lanmsttr Fanning, Saturday, February 24,1979
14
Nitrite study finds preservative to be helpful
CHICAGO, m. - Is toe
meat preservative sodium
nitrite a cancer-causing
bogeyman - or in fact man’s
life-preserving friend?
Dr. F. E. Deatoerage, a
veteran Ohio State
University biochemist, says
evidence suggests the
preservative is indeed
necessary for man’s well
being.
He presents this in
teresting view in “Man and
His food an Nitrite,” now
available in reprint form
free-of-charge from the Pork
Industry Group of the
National Live Stock and
Meat Board.
Deatherage says it’s
erroneous to finger nitrite as
a harmful additive. Nitrite
occurs naturally in the en
vironment and is even
manufactured in human
saliva and intestines. These
normally-occurring nitrites
in the body work as a natural
protection against botulism,
Deatherage claims, just as
nitrite in cured meats
prevents the outgrowth of
the deadly organism.
To the pork industry, for
which a nitrite ban could be
devastating, Deatherage’s
theory comes as a breath of
fresh air, according to Mark
W. Thomas, secretary of the
Pork Industry Group.
“A nitrite ban could slam
f
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toe door on up to two-thirds
of toe pork market, with
disastrous impact on the
entire industry,” he said.
“Continuing cancer hunts
threaten to undermine
confidence in toe entire food
industry, and perhaps Dr.
Deatoerage’s approach will
help restore scientific logic
to toe public about cancer.
“So it’s important,”
Thomas added, “that every
pork producer, packer and
processor read this report
and then pass it along for
others’ enlightenment.” He
urged industry organizations
to help distribute copies to
their local civic groups,
medical societies, teachers
and media.
Thomas noted that this
type of evidence is needed by
the threatened industry to
support its contention that
nitrite should continue to be
used as an accepted meat
preservative.
Nitrite is added to bacon,
hams and other processed
meats to prevent spoilage
and oxidation and to give toe
products their special flavor
and color. Recent testing on
laboratory rats showed an
inconclusive correlation
between nitrite ingestion and
instances of cancer. The
study is now being reviewed
and questioned by others in
toe scientific community.
We’re
with an
MF combines
mor animal studies nad
shown no such correlation.
To support the belief that
nitrite serves as a natural
chemical protection,
Deatoerage has examined
sudden infant death syn
drome, where babies die in
their cribs for no apparent
reason.
It has been shown that
many of these deaths are due
to toe outgrowth in toe in
fant’s intestine of
Clostridium botulinum
spores to active vegetative
bacteria which produce fatal
toxins. These dangerous
spores occur all around us
and in our food, but natural
nitrites have developed in
toe guts of most people to
-protect against them.
“It is reasonable then to
consider that normal bac
terial nitrification processes
producing nitrite have not
been sufficiently developed
in the first months of life to
protect some babies,” toe
Ohio State scientist says.
While he adds the evidence
merits further study, it has
created enough concern to
cause the Sioux Honey
Association to issue war
nings against feeding honey,
a source of botulism spores,
to young infants.
Interestingly, Deatherage
points out, nitrite is con
sumed by eating many foods
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other man cured meats.
Plant cells, for example,
need nitrogen in the form of
sodium nitrite and sodium
nitrate to produce protein,
which man, in turn, eats.
Nitrite and nitrate are also
produced by lightning and
carried by rain into the soil
and rivers - and
mto our drinking water. -
Vegetables such as let
tuce,- celery, radishes and
zucchini contain nitrate
levels far in excess of the 120
parts per million of nitrite
now used to cure bacon. The
nitrate in vegetables is
converted to nitrite when the
vegetables are eaten.
The average person
ingests daily in his own
saliva twice toe nitrite found
in cured meat. “It is clear
that nitrite is a normal part
of toe ecosystems and our
own life processes as well,”
Deatoerage says.
By standards set forth in
toe 1958 Delaney Amend
ment, cancer suspects can
be found almost anywhere,
according to Deatoerage.
But in a world requiring
extended storage of food,
preservatives are necessary
and nitrite is perhaps “toe
most valuable preservative
ever discovered,” he adds.
And since the chemical is
part of nature itself, “Then
why all toe fuss?” he asks.
For a free copy of National Live Stock a
Deatherage’s reprinted Meat Board, 444 N.Midiigi
report, one can write the Ave., Chicago, 111. 60611.
Pork Industry Group,
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