Reference

Cured meat catalogue

45 recognised cured-meat classes, each with its cure type, the meat it is made from, where its protected names are registered, and whether US law defines it. 24 of them carry at least one protected name in the EU register; 8 have a US standard of identity. Each product page adds the curing-salt reference and the time-and-temperature parameters a named authority publishes. Where a source publishes no ageing time, none is printed.

Curing salts, in one place

Two salts do the chemical work of curing. Sodium or potassium nitrite fixes colour and controls Clostridium botulinum; sodium or potassium nitrate is permitted only as a source of nitrite, and is not allowed in bacon (9 CFR 424.21(c)). Nitrate matters for the long cures - the dry-cured and fermented products in the table below - because nitrate-reducing bacteria convert it to nitrite slowly over weeks or months, a reservoir a single dose of nitrite cannot provide. The premixed salts sold as "cure #1" (nitrite only) and "cure #2" (nitrite plus nitrate) are trade names for these two agents, not regulatory categories.

The ingoing limits are on the nitrite and nitrate chart entries. This site publishes limits and their sources; it does not publish dosing as a recipe.

Protected status: eAmbrosia, the EU geographical indications register, retrieved 2026-09-04. Curing agents: 9 CFR 424.21(c). Process parameters: FSIS compliance guidelines. Spine generated by scripts/build-products.mjs on 2026-09-09.