Ross ol` bud, I feel that I can speak first-hand about this because I was hospitalized with salmonella once and once again for something they never did figure out. Neither was my fault and in one case, a restaurant had left sausage out overnight and far into the next day. It was rough goin` pard, and I mean that literally! I was young and thought I was tough and smart. Sheeyuks, it turned out that I`m neither. Anyway, I`ve even tried my own basil from the garden and wound up tossing a 10 lb. batch because of a good start of
brocotrix thermophacta developing literally overnight. These days, I simply do not add anything to the sausage that has not been sterilized! Of course, when making up "
fresh" sausage on the spot - to be cooked immediately for consumption - it`s an entirely different matter. However, by casing sausage and by smoking sausage, you`re simply cutting off the oxygen and
obligate anaerobic bacteria go to work right away. And just try leaving some in a plastic bowl covered with plastic wrap overnight!
Forget it.
To answer your question directly... no! Sodium nitrite
will protect against
clostridium botulinum bacteria (whose spores produce the deadliest toxin known to man),
but what about other stuff we need to be aware of also? Three pathogens in particular -
Salmonella, Listeria, and
Toxoplasma - are responsible for 1,500 deaths annually. Many of the pathogens of greatest concern today, were not even recognized as causes of food borne illness merely twenty years ago! They include
Campylobacter jejuni, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, Cyclospora cayetanensis, and others.
Clostridium perfringens is a nasty example of a
microaerophile bacteria that grows without oxygen present.
Staphylococcus aureus (present in the mouth, nose, and throat as well as on the skin and hair of many healthy people) often spread it by simply coughing or sneezing at any time during the sausage-making process. It may be accountable for the sickness of countless individuals.
Shigella, also a rod-shaped pathogenic bacterium, is closely related to
E.coli and
salmonella. Usually ingested, it is the cause of severe dysentery. Also rod-shaped pathogens of the bacteria genus
bacillus include
Bacillus cereus, which causes a foodborne illness similar to that of
staphyloccus. Some of the latest to be concerned with is the
cyclospora cayetanensis. I don't that we'll ever get a handle on that one.
The best answer is to cook the meat to recommended temperatures to destroy
most of these
pathogenic and
spoilage-type micro-organisms. Those with highly tolerant spores - such as clostridium botulinum - must be stopped by
nitrite. Of course, when we make our fermented sausages (from raw meat), we depend upon a rather high salt content to keep the bacteria temporarily in check while the beneficial
lactic acid bacteria go to work (producing acidity [pH]) and while the sausage dries to a point (Aw) where
pathogenic bacteria are no longer a threat.
Recently, we have enjoyed seeing many good neighbors from Australia join our ranks at WD. I`ll bet most of them don`t realize that Australia reports an estimated five and a half million cases of food-borne illness every year, causing 18,000 hospitalizations and 120 deaths. Recently in Europe, two and a half million pounds of beef were recalled due to salmonella contamination. In the United States, a single ice cream producer affected 224,000 persons when
salmonella contaminated products were placed on the market. Earlier, an outbreak of
hepatitis A, resulting from the consumption of contaminated clams, affected some 300,000 individuals in China. In the United Kingdom, two million cases, (about 3,400 cases per 100,000 inhabitants), of food contamination are reported each year. In France, three quarters of a million people (1,210 cases for 100,000 inhabitants), report food contamination sicknesses annually. The problem creates an enormous social and economic strain on people in every country. In the United States alone, diseases caused by the major pathogens are estimated to cost over $35 billion dollars annually in medical costs and lost productivity. The really tragic thing is that MOST of it could be stopped with simple, sensible, food-handling precautions.
In my opinion, before someone even begins making sausages in his own home kitchen that others will consume, he MUST become familiar with the basics of food handling safety and gain at least a fundamental insight of microorganisms and their behavior. Without this knowledge, YOU may very easily harm someone most seriously. Making fresh sausage invariably involves the use of perfectly clean utensils and low processing temperatures. We must take advantage of every opportunity to lower the temperature of the meat during the various steps of processing sausage. Those of the cured, cooked, and smoked variety, require the same essentials, but further include the use of sodium nitrites and nitrates, higher salt content, and of course, higher cooking temperatures. And finally, if someone wishes to make any type of dried or semi-dried sausage, a basic understanding of the fermentation process becomes necessary, along with an elemental knowledge of unique, acid-producing, microorganisms and their behavior. In other words, because the meat in these sausages is not cooked during preparation or even upon consumption, a bit more "bacteria savvy" is required. Further, in making those great tasting, tangy, "fermented" sausages, familiarity with a few unique safety procedures involving yeast and mold microorganisms is essential. They include at least an elemental understanding of (1.)
Water activity (Aw) - a measure of how much "bound" water is available to microorganisms, (2.)
pH acidity - (potentiometric hydrogen ion concentration) - a measure of acidity or alkalinity in food, developing resistance against microbiological spoilage, and (3.) a little microbiology, including: (a.)
molds, (b.)
yeasts, and (c.)
bacteria of three types: [1.]
pathogenic, [2.]
beneficial, and [3.] food
spoilage.
So, ol` partner, NO,
"the inclusion of nitrites" is not suffient
"to inhibit the botulium growth in fermented sausage if we add fresh veggies". We must use every other resource we have available to remain healthy. Hope this has helped.
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
