Organic Alternatives to Conventional Celery as a Meat Curing Agent
Project Director
Erin M. Silva
Year Funded
2019
Award Number
2019-51300-30243
Funded Institution
University of Wisconsin
Grant Program
OREI (Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative)
USDA NIFA Report (alternate)
Project Overview
Organic meat processing utilizes powder from conventionally grown celery in lieu of sodium nitrite as a curing agent. This project aimed to identify celery cultivars and organic production methods that would yield a powder suitable for curing organic meat and to document the economic viability of integrating celery for meat curing powder into organic vegetable rotations.
Field trials were conducted in WI and FL to compare the impacts of cover crops, N fertilizer rate, and cultivar on organic celery yields and nitrate concentrations. Organic turkey breast, ham, and frankfurter were cured with the celery powder and evaluated for quality and food safety. Enterprise budgets were created for organic celery production for use in meat processing.
Farmer Takeaways
(1) Organic celery grown after a legume cover crop and with sufficient N fertilizer can provide a satisfactory curing powder for organic processed meats.
(2) Adding celery for meat curing powder to an organic crop rotation may be an economically attractive option, especially in FL.
(3) Regardless of curing agent, care is needed to prevent the growth of foodborne pathogens, especially C. perfringens.
Project Outputs
Sheng, S., Silva, E. M., Tarté, R., & Claus, J. R. (2025). Residual nitrite and nitrate in processed meats and meat analogues in the United States. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 3269.
Abstracts of Presentations from American Society of Horticultural Science 2023 Annual Conference. (2023). HortScience, 58(9S), S1–S387.