DEFINITION OF SOURING.
To the meat inspector, a sour ham is one which has a tainted or “off” odor, that is, any odor which deviates from the normal. The odor may be very slight, so slight that at times only the trained meat inspector can detect it. When slight, the odor is elusive and hard to define, but when pronounced it has a distinctly putrefactive quality. When not very pronounced, the odor possesses, as a rule, a slightly sour quality, chemically speaking, and at times this sour quality may be quite marked; hence the term “sour ham,” or “sour” has originated. In a badly soured ham—using the term “sour” in the packing-house sense to denote any ham that is tainted—the odor loses this sour quality and becomes distinctly putrefactive in nature.