Augh!
Augh! There is no such thing as nitrate/nitrite free bacon, or other stuff. They can only say that because of ridiculous labeling laws! Look at the label. They all have celery juice or whatever in them because it CONTAINS SODIUM NITRATE/NITRITE. But it's natural , so they can call it nitrate/ite free. JFC, people. In addition, decades ago, when this stuff was first mentioned as a cancer risk, like, before some of us were born, many manufacturers started adding vitamin c (ascorbic acid) or other things into their products to offset the risk of nitrosamine formation. Look at the label on Oscar Mayer bacon. There's sodium ascorbate. That's vitamin C. Helloooooo. Lastly, maybe they have come up with something else to inhibit botulism, but sodium nitrite is apparently pretty reliable in this regard. We are omg so privileged spoiled when it comes to our food supply, but rare cases of botulism happen. We have modern medical care, but people still die occasionally. I could die now ...