A nit: The nitrates/nitrites/celery powder in bacon etc. is carcinogenic, the bacon doesn’t have cancer.

Thanks for the correction!

Normally, but not always. I can get freshly produced sausages from my local butcher.

"fresh" sausages most likely contains some of those preservatives too, as they prevent worse things like botulism. Unless maybe they're made the same day as you consume them?

According to our local, nitrate free, butcher freshly slaughtered meat contains enoigh natural nitrate-alternatives to not require additional nitrate if ham, sausages and so on are prepared soon enough.

nitrate-free is a myth. They use celery powder which breaks down to sodium nitrate. The FDA allows the producers to call this "nitrate free" since they are not using sodium nitrate directly and the FDA considers the celery powder a flavoring agent.

Chemically it breaks down to sodium nitrate and has the same carcinogenic nitrates. Its just a legal labeling loop hole.

Lucky me I don't live in the US then. And no, no celery powder used neither...

"Fresh" as in made on the day they're sold from the same meat that's sold there.

When butchered a clean facility foods without nitrates will last longer than a day.

Making a sausage is a form of processing. Sausage is a processed food, no matter what. The distinction is whether or not it is highly processed (i.e., amount of additives).

By that logic, splitting a peapod with my hands is processing, and thus all food is processed.