It is the meat that has become an American obsession, once eaten solely for breakfast but now found wrapped around other foods, infused into cocktails and even made into personal care products. Bacon has been called meat candy, the gateway meat for vegetarians and the perfect food. To honor bacon’s role as a cultural icon, the North American Meat Institute (NAMI) has developed a new Ultimate Guide to Bacon, featuring a video tour of a bacon processing plant and companion brochure with bacon facts, history and more.

The video is the newest installment in NAMI’s Glass Walls series, taking viewers inside a typical bacon processing plant. It shows the how bacon is made from harvesting the animal to separating the belly to curing and smoking the meat to cutting and packaging the finished product.

“With many people interested in where their food comes from, we wanted to show bacon lovers everyone exactly how we make this ‘cult’ food,” said Janet Riley, senior vice president of public affairs. “Making bacon isn’t complicated, but few people have the chance to see the process.  We hope this video satisfies bacon curiosity wherever it exists.”

The brochure includes more on the history of bacon, nutrition facts, some of the best quotes about bacon and where people enjoy it the most.

The new resources are the part of NAMI’s Glass Walls series which also features tours of pork, beef and turkey plants led by animal welfare expert Temple Grandin, Ph.D., professor of animal science at Colorado State University. The videos also include a thorough look at sanitation in meat plants, how hot dogs are made and how ground beef is made. Those videos have been viewed more than 800,000 times on YouTube.

The new video is available here on NAMI’s Meat News Network YouTube page and printed copies of the brochure are available on request. Complimentary copies of the video are provided to teachers who cannot access YouTube. To receive a copy of the video or brochure, send a request to Glass Walls, 1150 Connecticut Ave, NW, Suite 1200, Washington, DC, 20036 or email publicaffairs@meatami.com. 

Source: NAMI