Bacon

Bacon is cured pork, usually belly, sold raw and cooked before eating. It is dry-cured or brined, with or without nitrite, often smoked and cut into rashers. In the United States cured bellies sold as bacon may not weigh more than the fresh ones, and Spain's meat products standard defines bacon as smoked pancetta. ¹³

Which cut. American rules speak only of pork bellies: cured bellies ready for slicing and labelled «Bacon» may not outweigh the fresh, uncured bellies they came from. European Commission guidance is broader: «large bacon primals» are any primal cuts of pig meat, such as loins, bellies, shoulders and leg muscles, not meant for sale to consumers in that form. Spain's 2014 standard lists bacon among whole-piece meat products in three forms: semi-cooked, marinated and cured, and air-dried. ¹³⁴

Brine and Wiltshire. For bacon and «filet de bacon» the Commission guidance describes immersion curing for 4–5 days at 5–7 °C, maturing for typically 24–40 hours at 22 °C, optional smoking for 24 hours at 20–25 °C and storage for 3–6 weeks at 12–14 °C. Wiltshire bacon is first injected with curing solution and then kept in brine for 3–10 days; that brine also contains microbial starter cultures. ⁴⁸

Dry cure. Dry-cured bacon is rubbed with a curing mixture of salt, nitrite or nitrate and other ingredients and then matured for at least 4 days. The same EU category names Spanish panceta curada and Italian pancetta, lardo and guanciale salted dry as similar products. In the United States the cure mix for dry-cured bacon is weighed out in advance and must cover the belly surfaces completely. ⁴⁷⁸

American nitrite rules. For injected and massaged bacon US rules require 120 ppm of sodium nitrite at the start together with 550 ppm of sodium ascorbate or erythorbate. Alternatives are 100 ppm of nitrite, or 40–80 ppm with at least 0.7% added sugar and lactic acid bacteria that prevent botulinum toxin. Immersion-cured bacon may not exceed 120 ppm and dry-cured bacon 200 ppm, both counted on the skinless green weight of the belly. ⁷

European limits since 2025. From 9 October 2025 Regulation (EU) 2023/2108 tightened the rules: the residual nitrite allowed in Wiltshire and dry-cured bacon throughout shelf life fell from 175 to 105 mg/kg, and residual nitrate from 250 to 150 mg/kg. For other meat products that are not heat-treated, the nitrite that may be added fell from 150 to 80 mg/kg, while large bacon primals made without added nitrite may take up to 110 mg/kg of nitrate. ⁸

Water and the pack. Across the EU a meat product that looks like a cut or slice must name added water in its name if it exceeds 5% of the finished weight; British trading standards give «Bacon with added water» as the example. In the United States a pack with a window must show a representative slice, revealing at least 70% of its length over a width of at least 1.5 inches; red lines suggesting leanness are banned, and «fresh» may not be used on anything cured with nitrite or nitrate. ²⁶⁹

Composition and the freezer. USDA data put raw cured bacon at 393 kcal, 37.1 g fat, of which 12.6 g saturated, 13.7 g protein and 751 mg sodium per 100 g. Fat and curing salts make it turn rancid even when frozen, so the Food Marketing Institute advises freezing only unopened packs, for up to a month; the NCHFP gives 1–3 months at most, at −18 °C (0 °F) or lower. ⁵¹⁰

Why it matters to you. Bacon is a raw ingredient, not a ready snack: fry, grill or bake it. The name tells you whether water was added, and the ingredients list shows the curing salts; in the EU the nitrite caps fell in 2025. More on the family on Cured pork fat and belly and Guanciale. ⁶⁸⁹ WHO classes processed meat, including cured and smoked meat, as carcinogenic to humans, and the risk grows with the amount eaten. ¹¹