Originally posted by jolog1
buy filipino policy? I don't think so. Do you want to feed all that red stained longanisa, corned beef, and red hotdog filled with nitrates to your love ones? Unti unti mong nilalason ang pamilya mo for the sake of "buy pinoy policy". When I buy stuff, I buy what's best and safest for me and my family, regardless of who makes it.

There's blind loyalty and there's common sense.
here's a primer on nitrites... taken from themeatman.com

Nitrite has been used as a food preservative and anti-botulinal agent for decades. It has also been a subject of controversy since the 1970s, when some of its reaction-products (i.e., nitrosamines) were associated with cancer in laboratory animals. However, following a 1981 review of all scientific data on nitrite, the National Academy of Sciences/ National Research Council indicated that 1) nitrite does not directly act as a carcinogen in animals 2) nitrate, converted to nitrite in the human body, is neither carcinogenic nor mutagenic and 3) nitrite-preserved or nitrate-containing foods account for only a very small proportion of the human body's total exposure to nitrosamines. Today, it is clear that the benefits of nitrite in cured foods far outweigh any potential risks.

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The Institute of Food Technologists has reviewed the scientific issues concerning nitrite and concluded that:

Nitrite is critical to the safety of cured foods. It prevents the outgrowth of C botulinum spores;

Nitrite is responsible for the characteristic flavor and pink color of cured meats;

Foods containing added nitrite or naturally-occurring nitrate do not cause human cancers;

Nitrite levels in U.S. cured foods are currently as low as possible and strictly regulated.


Victoria M. Getty, M.Ed., R.D.
IFAN editor and Extension Specialist
Department of Foods and Nutrition
1264 Stone Hall
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN 47907-1264
gettyv*cfs.purdue.edu