The folks staging the Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival's Extreme Bacon Bite Challenge in Las Vegas Nov. 14 are not concerned that a recent report by the World Health Organization linking processed meats to cancer will take the sizzle out of their event.

According to a story in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, organizers of the event say the WHO’s report and the alarmist headlines it created hasn’t put a damper on what they’re calling a gathering devoted to “bacon fellowship.”


In fact, Marshall Porter, “chief bacon officer” of the Iowa Bacon Board and the event’s organizer, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that “interest in the event has increased since headlines hit earlier this week. There has been an abundance of bacon lovers out there who are a little disappointed with some of the misleading headlines related to the WHO’s recent announcement.”

It’s the first time that the Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival’s Extreme Bacon Bite Challenge will be held in Las Vegas. The Las Vegas event will feature 10 mostly Las Vegas-based chefs competing for bragging rights for their bacon bites and a prize package valued at $4,000. The festival will also include an Elvis costume competition, a bacon-infused wedding ceremony by United Church of Bacon, electronic dance music and “extreme” bacon fellowship.

Brooks Reynolds, the Iowa Bacon Board’s president, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the WHO “issues grave warnings about everyday items without any consideration or someone’s full health profile.”

“I think what everybody can agree on," he said, is that eating a well-balanced diet, making healthy lifestyle choices and maintaining a healthy weight "reduces risks of all kinds."