I’m looking for the definition of sodium erythorbate. It appears in hot dogs, bacon, etc. I have heard that sodium erythorbate is a euphemism for worms. Please confirm or deny this. I was wondering what exactly sodium erythorbate is. I had heard that it is salted earthworms, is this true?
Thank you sincerely.
Sodium erythorbate a man-made form of vitamin C which is made in a laboratory from sugar and is an antioxidant. It functions to control color and flavor loss that happens when food is exposed to air. In meat curing, it speeds up nitrites while maintaining the color. In fact, adding sodium erythorbate allows food manufacturers to reduce the number of nitrites used in food processing. Nitrites are there to prevent food poisoning from fresh meat and the addition of sodium erythorbate reduces the number of nitrites needed. It is used cured meats, not fresh and is occasionally used in beverages, baked goods, and potato salad.