Residents’ hopes of Lunar New Year preserved pork go up in smoke

[GiveItAway]

Residents’ hopes of Lunar New Year preserved pork go up in smoke

PUBLISHED : Thursday, 22 January, 2015, 2:48pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 22 January, 2015, 2:48pm

Staff reporter

Eating preserved pork and sausages is a long-held tradition in Chongqing and many households traditionally smoke bacon before Lunar New Year. Photo: Reuters

An “anti-bacon” crackdown by authorities in China has banned city residents from making smoked bacon – a traditional method of preserving pork – because it is blamed for polluting the air.

Since Tuesday Chongqing’s Environment Protection Bureau and the municipal departments of public security, city planning, food and drug administration have enforced the ban on the smoking of bacon in major districts of the city, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Eating preserved pork and sausages is a long-held tradition in Chongqing and the neighbouring Sichuan Province.

Many households make smoked bacon before Lunar New Year, which falls on February 19 this year.

Chongqing’s anti-bacon campaign came days after an official in the neighbouring city Dazhou sparked a wave of controversy by blaming the lingering smog on smoked bacon.

The bureau said the burning of materials in the open air and making “firewood chicken” – a delicacy cooked with lots of firewood – are now also prohibited.

Highly polluting burning materials will be replaced with clean energy, such as natural gas, electricity and liquefied gas.

Anyone caught violating the rules will face a fine of up to 5,000 yuan (about HK$6,300), the bureau said on its official website yesterday.

Xinhua said the Chongqing campaign had led to public ridicule and scepticism on the internet, with some netizens saying that the government “should probably ban cooking because it also generates air pollution”.

One netizen joked: “Maybe we should stop breathing because it pollutes the air.”