Mmm Mclean Turkey Bacon...

 

Bacon still seems to be all the rage these days, turning up in everything from cocktails to cupcakes.

Of course I think this is disgusting and ridiculous.  Probably one of the worst things for your health that you can eat is cured and processed meats.  Why?  The nitrites they are preserved with.  And don't let 'cultured celery extract' on the ingredient list fool you, that's just a 'naturally' derived nitrite that experts say may be just as harmful.

That being said, I do think bacon is tasty.  Not tasty enough to eat often, if at all, but I love the idea of a healthier substitution.  Unfortunately, all the supposedly healthier options I've found still have nitrites in them.  Until now.

I recently found Mclean brand turkey bacon at Fiesta Farms and was impressed by the ingredient list: Short, readable, with no nitrites!  I picked up a pack and threw a few slices into some wraps I made Adam and I for dinner the other night.  Yum!  It is fully cooked so it doesn't get crispy like traditional pork bacon, but it has a really nice smokiness.

Here is what they say about their ingredients:

There are too many products on store shelves with unhealthy, artificial or chemical ingredients like nitrites, phosphates, dyes, extracts, and bulkers and fillers made from soy, corn or wheat.

McLean Meats products are made using just meat, salt, sugar and spices. We only use ingredients you can recognize, trust, and pronounce. And where possible, we always choose the raw or less processed option in a recipe.

• Beef: The beef we use comes from family-run farms in Canada and the United States, where the cattle are raised outdoors and enjoy a combined diet of grass and vegetarian grains. The animals are never fed any animal by-products and are never given growth hormones or antibiotics.
• Pork: More than 90% of our pork comes from farms in Quebec and the Maritimes, where the hogs are raised in large open spaces with room to socialize, groom and bed. They enjoy a vegetable grain diet and are never administered growth hormones or antibiotics.
• Poultry: Our turkeys and chickens are raised on family-owned and operated farms with large custom-built barns that provide fresh air and sunlight creating a low-stress environment with lots of room to roam, socialize and nest. Our birds are never raised in pens and never receive growth hormones.
• Salt: We use only sea salt, which contains valuable trace minerals instead of regular table salt which is processed using high heat that strips away the good minerals.
• Sugar: We use minimally processed raw cane sugar instead of regular sugar, which contains more additives and is bleached white using sulphur dioxide.
• Protein: Our products are generally higher in protein than most leading brands, providing better food value.
• Fat: We only use lean cuts of meat and strive to keep fat levels down wherever possible. Most of our products have less than four grams of fat per serving.
• Spices: Each recipe we use has a custom spice blend that adheres to strict food safety and allergen controls. We only purchase spice blends from companies that demonstrate accredited and certified Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) and Food Security and Allergen Controls. Spice suppliers must also demonstrate that they don’t use irradiated spices or ingredients from Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). Our ultimate goal is to only use spices that are certified organic.
• Allergens: Our products and spice blends contain no common allergens like dairy, soy, MSG or gluten.
• We do not use phosphates, nitrites, binders, colourants, bulkers, celery extract or other chemical preservatives or additives in any of our products.

 

So if you are lucky enough to live near Fiesta Farms, I urge you to grab a pack!