In order to make smog-free meat, Dazhou's environmental protection bureau has decided to provide residents with over 100 machines and equipment, according to a report by China Daily.
The machine, which allows residents to smoke meat in enclosed areas, will help reduce smog in the area especially in Dazhou, a city in Sichuan Province, according to Wang Huaiyan, chief of Dazhou's environmental protection bureau.
Residents are encouraged to share the equipment. However, officials failed to disclose whether the use of the machines are free.
Smoking meat is a popular practice in Sichuan Province's easternmost city particularly during the Spring Festival, which takes place from Feb. 8-22 every year. It's a cultural tradition that has been part of the residents' lives for a long time.
The addition of the machines is also expected to ease the burdens smoking meat brings to residents. For example, 75-year-old Fu Xiuqin has to find cypress and sawdust twigs to smoke meat--a task that has proven to be quite difficult in the city of Chengdu, where there are more than 10 million people.
The case is different in Dazhou, however, as sawdust and cypress twigs are easily found in the city's Fenghuang Mountain.
"Almost 99 percent of local families would smoke meat before the Spring Festival. People who smoke meat can be found from the foot to the top of Fenghuang Mountain," said Yu Canghai, a local city official, in an interview with China Daily.
Because of smoking meat, air in Dazhou becomes more polluted. The government has already labeled the smoking of bacon as a major factor. Other provincial officials, on the other hand, say that meat smoking is just a contributing factor and not a leading cause.
"There are many causes for smog in Sichuan. Meat smoking is one of the contributors to smog but not the leading one," said Chen Housheng, a deputy from the Sichuan Provincial People's Congress.
Researchers have found that smoking meat produces little to no PM2.5, the airborne matter than can harm the lungs and overall health.