Sizzlean was a

cured meat Curing is any of various food preservation and flavoring processes of foods such as meat, fish and vegetables, by the addition of salt, with the aim of drawing moisture out of the food by the process of osmosis. Because curing increases the solu ...

product manufactured throughout the 1970s and 1980s and marketed as a healthier alternative to

bacon Bacon is a type of salt-cured pork made from various cuts, typically the belly or less fatty parts of the back. It is eaten as a side dish (particularly in breakfasts), used as a central ingredient (e.g., the bacon, lettuce, and tomato sand ...

. Swift & Co. originally produced the product and rolled it out to major

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

markets in 1977.Reckert, Clare M. (26 August 1977)
Esmark Profit Up 14.3% in Quarter; Dividend Raised
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The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' ("The processed meats company through its sales of Brown 'N Serve and Dry Sausage product lines plus new products, mainly Sizzlean, produced increased earnings over last year.")Farm Journal
Vol. 101 (1977) ("Latest entry in the race to build a better bacon is Sizzlean from Swift & Company. Already available in a number of US cities, it's one more indication that formed and flaked meat can compete with substitutes for new markets")Finding the Bacon at Swift
''Financial World'' (Vol. 146, No. 13) (1977) ("Swift's Sizzlean breakfast strips, introduced to half of the country are doing "incredibly well." Says Watchman, "Sizzlean will actually turn a profit while it's still being launched." ") In 1990,

ConAgra Foods Conagra Brands, Inc. (formerly ConAgra Foods) is an American consumer packaged goods holding company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Conagra makes and sells products under various brand names that are available in supermarkets, restauran ...

acquired Swift from

Beatrice Foods Beatrice Foods Company was a major American food processing company founded in 1894. In 1987, its international food operations were sold to Reginald Lewis, a corporate attorney, creating TLC Beatrice International, after which the majority of ...

and continued to market the product until about 2005. Sizzlean was the subject of a series of commercials featuring the tagline: “Move over, bacon, there’s something leaner!” or “Move over, bacon, now there’s something meatier!” Though the product contained less fat than bacon, it was still 37% fat by weight, causing complaints that the "lean" name was not accurate.(11 November 1985)
Lean Language, Not Cuisine
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References

See also