Process
Immersion brining
The meat sits in a salt solution until the two equalise, or until a chosen time is up.
Published parameters
| Parameter | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Brine concentration | 100 x [salt] / ([salt] + [water]) | FSIS-GD-2016-0002, Ham and Shoulder Treatment Method 4 |
| Ingoing nitrite, immersion cured bacon | not to exceed 120 ppm on the skin-free green weight | 9 CFR 424.22(b)(2) |
What the step is for
Gets salt and nitrite into the interior faster than surface application, at the cost of adding water.
An immersion brine at a fixed strength for a fixed time is the traditional approach and is the one the older regulations were written around. It has a defect that equilibrium brining does not: the result depends on the time, the temperature, the shape of the piece and how much brine there is relative to how much meat.
The formula FSIS uses for brine concentration divides salt by salt plus water, not by the whole product. Fat is excluded. This is why the same cure produces a different brine concentration in a lean muscle and a fatty one, and why a salt percentage quoted without saying which denominator it uses is close to meaningless.
Hazards this step bears on
Arithmetic for this step
Regulatory citations are to the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, Title 9, as in force on 1 January 2026. FSIS guideline citations give the guideline identifier; the documents are listed with their URLs on methodology.