The Savvy Shopper. Rose Prince

       BACON (AND PORK)

      It should be so simple. Cover a fresh pork back or belly with salt and a little sugar, leave it to cure, then mature it in a cold, dry room and you have bacon. But simple it isn’t. Traditionally cured bacon is still available but the majority of commercial bacon is produced very differently – and much of it is imported from other European countries, a long way from our breakfast tables. The same issues apply to bacon’s raw material, fresh pork. This ranges from slow-grown traditional breeds with sublime flavour and superb cooking qualities (meaning less shrinkage and no seeping white paste during cooking) to characterless, pale, fatless joints that are as disappointing as they are cheap. It is worth bearing in mind that, due to the poor cooking quality of such pork, the cheapest pork is not always the best value.

      What methods are used to make commercially

      cured bacon?

      Commercially made bacon is wet cured in brine with either phosphates or a derivative. Injected into the meat, phosphates encourage the absorption of water, which boosts the weight of the meat. This is the milky liquid that seeps from the bacon as it fries. Bacon cured this way will retain a higher level of salt – a matter of concern to anyone watchful of their diet.

      How is traditional bacon made?

      It can be wet or dry cured. The former is placed in a brine tub with salt, sodium nitrite (E250 – note nitrite not nitrate) and potassium nitrate (E252, otherwise known as saltpetre), plus the spices, sugar or seasoning that give it its character. Dry-cured bacon is placed in a mixture of dry salt, sodium nitrate, potassium nitrate, seasonings and/ or spices. Nitrates give bacon its pink colour. Ordinary salt produces very unappealing grey bacon. Organic production permits the use of both. After curing, it is hung to dry and mature. With no injections of phosphates, traditional cures are less salty and the flavour of the meat more obvious. These two methods are well suited to traditional, slow-growing pig breeds.

      Should I be concerned about the preservatives in bacon?

      Obviously excessive salt in bacon is not healthy but it is much better to eat bacon that has been dry cured or traditionally brined (the Wiltshire cure) than injected with brine and phosphates, as is sometimes the case with commercial cured pork. The preservative with the greater problem is potassium nitrite (E249), which is not permitted in food specifically made for infants and small children because it can affect the body’s ability to carry oxygen and is therefore a danger to asthma sufferers or those with respiratory illness. Just to confuse matters further, sodium nitrate (E251) and sodium nitrite (E250) can also be used in the curing process. The latter is controversial and some retailers will not permit its use because it is potentially harmful to children.

      Who makes bacon?

      Britain, Holland and Denmark are major producers but bacon is also made in the Irish Republic, France, Germany and Spain. The majority of bacon eaten in the UK is imported, mainly from Holland and Denmark, and the figure is on the increase. Recently it was reported that imports have increased by 38 per cent to 300,000 tonnes, and that excludes fresh pork that is imported and cured in the UK.

      Why not eat imports?

      It is largely a moral choice. Welfare for British pigs, especially breeding sows, is of a higher standard. It is estimated that two-thirds of breeding sows in other EU countries (apart from Sweden, whose welfare standards are more on a par with UK ones) are kept indoors, confined individually in small stalls all their lives. In the UK, indoor-farmed breeding sows are confined during birth and for four weeks after the birth in ‘farrowing crates’, which measure six feet by four feet (the pigs weigh about 250 kilos). The reason given is to protect the piglets, and British pig farmers say they are trying to design a larger, more welfare-friendly crate. Once the sows have mated again – about five weeks after the last litter – they are moved to pens where they are kept in groups for the duration of the pregnancy – about five months. They may be on straw bedding, which is good, but could be on slatted floors – not good. Young indoor-reared British pigs are loose housed in pens, about half of them on deep litter straw.

      In all European countries (apart from Sweden) pigs are kept in groups. Tail docking is permitted in Europe and the UK, but only under veterinary supervision, so at least farmers are not routinely carrying it out. Nose rings are permitted, but rare in the UK.

      Is all British pork welfare friendly?

      No. Welfare experts say standards for 70 per cent of pigs (reared indoors) could be improved. The other 30 per cent are reared outdoors, where they can behave more naturally, but they must have some sort of shelter.

      What do pigs eat?

      In spite of being omnivores, British and European pigs are now, in the most part, vegetarians. Meat and bone meal feed are banned (due to BSE), and so is pigswill (which by definition contains meat waste) because it is thought it can spread diseases such as foot and mouth. Pigs are permitted some fishmeal, but it must constitute no more than three per cent of their feed. Pigs can eat dairy waste, such as whey from cheese making, but this is sadly rare (the whole Parma ham/ Parmesan business was founded on feeding pigs whey). Whether or not this enforced vegetarian diet affects their growth is not yet known – will the pig of the future evolve with no meat-eating teeth?

      Pigs are now fed dried concentrates of cereals including soya (which can be GM derived); co-product feed from