We picked up some uncured bacon at Sam’s from Hormel saying that it had no nitrites or nitrates added. The wife thought it tasted just like cured bacon and looked into it, and it does have nitrites from the celery powder. This is an end run on the labeling and use limits of sodium and potassium nitrites linked to cancer. And the natural nitrites from the celery processed and condensed down are just as problematic in the human body. And to make it worse when they add sodium or potassium nitrate to cured meats they also have to add vitamin C which is naturally occurring in produce and prevents nitrosamines from forming, the cancer causing agent. But when using celery powder they don’t have to add vitamin C at all, and they can use as much celery powder as they want making it even more unhealthy and nitrosamine forming. Lesson is that if you’re trying to be healthier, they’re coming after you. Why deceive the population who thinks they’re eating healthier unless you want the negative health consequences and it’s by design. So we’re back to buying uncured bacon that is unseasoned from a local ranch when we want to enjoy some bacon but a little wiser to the ways they’re trying to harm us with food.
Perhaps you’re wondering why the distinction matters at all. Loosely explained, in certain conditions—high heat, or bonding with a protein—nitrites convert to nitrosamines, compounds that have been linked to cancer. These links first came to light in the 1970s, after lab studies on rats and other animals showed a likely carcinogenic connection. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) considered banning sodium nitrite, but ultimately declined.
Though the World Health Organization has defined processed meat as a known carcinogen, it’s yet to be proven whether nitrites and nitrates are the only cause. Still, there is a somewhat broad consensus that whether those nitrites are man-made or come from celery or other vegetables, they are virtually indistinguishable to the human body. “There is absolutely no difference in the way we process nitrites,” says Sebranek. “It makes no sense how these products are labeled differently.”
Ironically, traditionally cured meats are subject to clearly defined nitrate and nitrite limits, while “uncured” meats containing celery powder—which every source I spoke with agreed are generally misclassified—aren’t subject to any limits. Tamar Haspel, a columnist for The Washington Post, noted this quirk in an April piece titled, “The Uncured Bacon Illusion.” She wrote: “When the nitrite comes from sodium (or potassium) nitrite, it’s regulated (allowable levels vary by product). There are no limits for nitrite from celery powder.”
“When consumers see that uncured label, they assume they aren’t getting the same health impacts as with other cured meats. This is basically a form of ‘health-washing,’” says Sarah Sorscher, deputy director of regulatory affairs at CSPI. “A variety of groups like the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society have weighed in on the dangers of processed meats, none of which are reduced with the use of celery powder.”
OrganicEye, a self-proclaimed organic industry watchdog (and an offshoot of the advocacy group Beyond Pesticides), has sent a petition to NOSB, which states that the “continuance of celery powder on the National List, violates the trust of consumers who seek out organic food as a safe haven from what is conventionally offered in the supermarket and all too often contains dangerous and risky ingredients.”
UPDATE 10/25/2019 7:35 a.m.: The National Organic Standards Board voted 11 to 1 to keep celery powder on the list of acceptable organic ingredients. It will be up for consideration again in five years.