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 stable 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, Article in The Scientist Volume 13, No. 6:1, Mar. 15, 1999 (registration required).

Salt and sugar inhibit the growth of microorganisms by drawning water out of microbial cells by osmosis. Concentrations of salt up to 20% are required to kill most species of bacteria. Smoking adds chemicals that reduce the concentration of salt required.

See also Curing