Americans love their food labels: “natural,” “cage-free,” “fresh.” On one stunning occasion in my local grocery store, I read the label, “gluten free” on the side of a whole chicken. Trust me, every chicken, regardless of how it’s raised, is gluten-free. 

But there is one label that I think a lot of butchers dread having to respond to: “Nitrate-free.” Or is it, “nitrite-free?”

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