[southernskye]

Morning all,
               I was doing doing a search for "Must sausages include saltpetre"?
This is because I was reading Home Farmer/Smallholder/Country Small holding (I forget which) and an article indicated that you MUST use saltpetre in sausages if you sell to the public.
(Now, I suppose this also begs the question "Who are the public"?)

However, I would be interested if any of you know whether this is true or not?

I am off back to my search now and, if any definitive results appear, I will pop the info here.
Rgds
SSkye

[robert waddell]

PUBLIC  could be determined as any body you have never met or talked to before they have asked you for meat products or anything else that you have on sale   now Skye will get its fair share of public
saltpetre is used to cure gammon and bacon the beauty of home made sausages is they don't contain the crap that is in mass produced ones unless you want to include the preservative colouring rusk to bulk them out etc etc
you have no information on what you are doing, where they are made, and your point of sale
as is all to often articles are written rejiged and cobbled together with the writers own twist added so they are not copying or seen to be copying
 

[southernskye]

I wonder, if you owned a B&B for example, would The Public include guests if you used own pig/sausage (and own hens eggs too for that matter?) in a cooked breakfast?!

Yes, I need to check my magazines this evening and find out which one it was and who wrote the article. I hope it was a recent edition (I often pick up an old mag. browse/re-read then throw it back in the bottom of my wardrobe!) otherwise it may take some finding.

I can find no specifics on the web that indicate Saltpetre must be used when selling to the public. I know there are health issues, which is why Saltpetre is included. Ho,wever I know there are other health concerns and it appears a good idea not to include saltpetre. 6 of one, half-dozen the other!
Hope Falkirk treats you well and say Hello to The Wheel when next you pass by it;-)!
SSkye.

[TheGnomeAtHome]

Actually if anything, you don't want to include saltpetre in any of your fresh sausages. Potassium Nitrate can be extremely harmful in any type of quantity. It breaks down into Potassium Nitrite over time which is why its used in making ham and salami etc.  There is absolutely no law, that states you must include either Saltpetre (or sodium Nitrite) in any fresh sausage. If you making salami or other charcuterie products, thats fine, but no need for fresh ones.

Hope this helps
Paul

[smallholder in the city]

There was an article about curing in Smallholder Feb 2011 which might be the one you mean. it prompted a similar discussion in our house.
Having read it a few times what they seem to be saying is that if you use saltpetre and plan to sell your products the saltpetre must be in the correct ratio, which is impossible to do accurately by hand so it advised pre mixed cures.

Here's the exact wording to see if others have the same interpretation:

''If you are planning on curing anything that has to last over a couple of weeks, you should use curing salt. this is a mixture of ordinary salt and saltpetre. By law, if you are going to sell your products, you need the saltpetre in the correct ratio, which is impossible to do in the kitchen, the amount is so low you'd never actually get the stuff properly mixed. You can buy it, however , along with any number of pre- mixed cures for really professional results'' Paul Peacock Smallholder magazine

[robert waddell]

the quoted article does not mention sausages   where has the confusion come from ??

[smallholder in the city]

No it isn't about sausages (bacon and ham) but in the mind of the newbie amateur charcutier the words 'the law and saltpetre ' tend to stick in the mind and cause anxiety about whether you should be putting it in your sausages too. Or maybe that's just because of my obsessive personality traits and years of risk management training running wild 

[southernskye]

Hmmmnn, could be that article. I will def. seek out my recent magazine purchases (and those on the top of the pile in the wardrobe bottom) and see if I can find it.
Rgds
SSkye

[Hilarysmum]

I have a feeling that if you do put it in your sausages they will have a pinkish colour when cooked and you will be drinking water all evening after eating them.