And as someone who has butchered a pig, made sausages and bacon I can assure you that for a lot of it the nitrates are really the only difference between those and other forms of meat.

I guess the curing time could also be relevant but I don't believe there is anything to suggest that curing time is an issue.

Knowing this I was wondering for ages "surely it can only be the nitrates" and that seemed to be the case. It is also possible to buy bacon safely cured without nitrates now too.