Two experiments were conducted to determine the effects of sodium lactate on nitrite during meat curing. In a model system, 8 reaction components were used to assess the effect of each on metmyoglobin reducing activity by excluding one component at a time. Excluding lactate, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD), L-lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) or phenazine methosulfate (PMS) resulted in no reducing activity. A second experiment utilizing a meat mixture, lactate was added to ground beef at concentrations ranging from 2% to 6%, with or without nitrite, packaged in oxygen-permeable and impermeable materials, and stored for up to 96 hours. There was less residual nitrite when sodium lactate was added to the mixture. Results from both experiments supported the hypothesis that lactate generated NADH which reduced metmyoglobin to deoxymyoglobin, with the resulting greater concentration of reduced myoglobin reacting with nitrite to produce more nitric oxide, reducing nitrite concentration and accelerating the curing reaction.