Nitrates can form nitrosamines, which have been proven to cause cancer in lab animals. That is, nitrosamines and cancer have a direct correlation, but nitrates don't always form nitrosamines and even when they do it's not in large amounts, not the large amounts that cause cancer in animals. So basically people avoid nitrates because they are leery of anything that is associated with anything that is associated with cancer. Studies that have tried to establish nitrates as a cancer-causing agent have been unsuccessful thus far; in other words, no study of people eating nitrates has shown an increase in cancer. By the way, I didn't find any nitrate-free bacon at Costco, just sausages. Publix (grocery store) carries nitrate-free bacon if you want to pay a lot. I try to buy nitrate-free bacon when I can, but I have to agree that I don't like the taste of it as much as nitrate-treated bacon.