Salt-cured meat

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A bagel topped with salt beef and mustard

Salt-cured meat or salted meat, for example ham, bacon, or kippered herring, is meat or fish preserved or cured by salt or brine. Salt beef was a staple of the diet of the British navy. Salted meat and fish are commonly eaten as a staple of the diet in North Africa, Southern China, and in the Arctic where they are associated with nasopharyngeal cancer caused by infection by the Epstein-Barr Virus. One study hypothesizes that a covector is anaerobic bacteria found in salted fish.^[1]

Salt inhibits the growth of microorganisms by drawing water out of microbial cells through osmosis. Concentrations of salt up to 20% are required to kill most species of unwanted bacteria. Smoking, often used in the process of curing meat, adds chemicals to the surface of meat that reduce the concentration of salt required.

'Salt beef' in the UK and Commonwealth as a cured and boiled foodstuff is sometimes known as 'Corned beef' elsewhere, though traditional salt beef is different in taste and preparation. The use of the term corned comes from the fact that the Middle English word corn could refer to grains of salt as well as cereal grains.