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It’s bacon! New seasoning sent to troops

What’s the worst thing about being deployed to a Muslim country? The flying lead? The 120-degree heat? No bacon?

If you’d pick “no bacon,” here’s good news.

A Seattle-area business is concerned that Marines don’t have enough bacon on deployment. The owners of J&D’s Down Home Enterprises are pushing their new product — “Bacon Salt.” It’s a “vegetarian and kosher seasoning salt that makes everything taste like real, delicious bacon,” according to the manufacturer.

Sprinkle it on burgers or fries, or leave it on the shelf for years. It doesn’t spoil, normally costs $4.49 for a small jar, and is available online at http://www.baconsalt.com.

The company’s motto: “Everything should taste like bacon.”

Soon, there might be some Bacon Salt on a chow hall table near you. The company is launching “Operation Bacon Salt,” which involves shipping free cans of their product to troops in combat.

“We have received reports back from the field that Bacon Salt actually pairs quite nicely with most MREs and military chow.” said Justin Esch, one of the company’s owners, in an e-mail.

The idea began when a Marine living on a small patrol base in Anbar province contacted the company and complained about a lack of bacon.

“I’m sorry to report, however, that although there are many amenities provided for us, regular access to bacon is not one of them,” the Marine wrote.

The chow halls at the large camps in Iraq and Afghanistan offer bacon, but many Marines at small bases can go days or even weeks without tasting the greasy pork favorite.

Bacon is unavailable elsewhere in the countries because Muslim scripture prohibits the consumption of pork.

“We hope that by supporting the troops in our own way we can help inspire other companies (with much larger budgets) to do the same,” Esch wrote.