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CHONGQING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Chongqing Municipality in southwest China has introduced a smoke-free device to allow residents to make smoked bacon -- a delicacy once banned and blamed for causing foul air.

The environmentally friendly machine consists of three parts -- a metal smoking box, and cooling and purifying systems. The bacon is hung in smoke produced by burning cypress branches, and the smoke is cooled before it is purified and emitted by the device into the air.

"The smoked bacon made by this machine can preserve the original taste and protect the environment," said Zhang Zhong, owner of a designated meat-smoking site in Chongqing.

Eating preserved pork and sausages is a long-held tradition in Chongqing and the neighboring provinces of Sichuan and Guizhou, and many families make smoked bacon before the Chinese lunar new year.

Traditionally, people hang the meat above a metal bucket that contains burning tree branches.

Chongqing residents were banned from making smoked bacon in major districts of the city in 2015 as the delicacy was blamed for causing foul air.

"The heavy choking smoke caused people to call fire fighters and led to conflicts among neighbors," said Liu Jiao, an official with a residential community in the city.

But the ban invited public ridicule and skepticism on the Internet.

This winter, the Chongqing government asked an environmental protection equipment business to make a smoke-free machine for smoked bacon fans.

According to the city's Ecological and Environmental Monitoring Center, with the help of the new machine, the density of particulate matter and cooking fumes has been reduced to around 3 milligram per cubic meter and 0.6 mg per cubic meter respectively.

The levels reached 500 mg per cubic meter and 40 mg per cubic meter, respectively, when using traditional bacon smoking methods.

The government has installed the machine at designated meat-smoking sites on every street and in every residential community. In Yubei district alone, there are more than 90 such sites.

"Each machine costs more than 30,000 yuan (around 4,600 U.S. dollars). They are purchased or rented by local governments or site owners," said Li Liaoyuan, an official with a subdistrict office in Yubei.

Resident Li Yanfang has made more than 25 kg of smoked bacon, sausages and pigs' feet at a designated bacon-smoking site.

"Although making smoked bacon is a small thing, the new machine shows the local government's shift from 'banning' to 'solving' issues," Li said.