 Curing salts are generally a mixture of table salt and sodium nitrite and are used for pickling meats as part of the process to make sausage or cured meat such as ham, bacon, pastrami, corned beef, etc.The reason for using nitrite-curing salt is to inhibit the growth of bacteria, specifically "Clostridium botulinum" in an effort to prevent botulism.Many curing salts also contain red dye that makes them pink to prevent them from being confused with common table salt.