People vow to never eat crispy bacon again after seeing it's made with 'liquid smoke'

Getting a glimpse of what goes down in a meat factory will likely make or break your relationship with bacon.

Although you might satisfy your curiosity, you might also leave yourself feeling quite sick when you shatter the illusion - so, keep reading at your own risk.

Humans are pretty obsessed with finding out how our favourite foods are made, whether that be iconic crisps like Quavers, crab sticks, or meal deal sandwiches.

This could make or break your relationship with bacon (Getty Stock Image)

But once you gain that knowledge, there is no going back - and news flash, food processing factories aren't the most appetising places, ironically.

A lot of people who watched Discovery UK's 'How It's Made' clip explaining where bacon comes from said they have been put off the stuff for good.

The footage, which was uploaded to YouTube in 2018, takes viewers behind-the-scenes in a meat factory to show what steps it takes to get pre-cooked bacon on supermarket shelves.

Essentially, a load of pork bellies are put inside of a big tumbler which tosses them around repeatedly, as this softens the slabs of meat and makes it easier to remove the skin.

Each of these pork bellies are then placed skin-side down on a conveyor belt, which takes them on a journey towards a 'long automated blade' that slices the skin off.

People have been left stunned after finding out how bacon is made (YouTube/Discovery UK)

But don't worry, this stuff doesn't go to waste, as they will be used to be processed into pork rinds.

Meanwhile, the good stuff is sent along another conveyor belt and towards a flipping device which puts them back-side down, so any excess skin can be hand-removed by staff.

From there, the pork is cured in a brine solution before the flavourings are added, the video explained.

Salt is funnelled into a tank of water and mixed thoroughly until it dissolves, before liquid smoke and other tastes are added - and the bellies are then 'repeatedly injected' with this curing concoction.

Metal hangers are pressed into each individual pork belly so they can be hung on a rack and can then head to the 'drench cabinet'... which is where things get a bit weird.

The meat is treated to a 'shower of liquid smoke', in scenes which resemble some kind of horror movie bloodbath, which adds flavour and colour to the porks surface.

The 'shower of liquid smoke' left viewers stunned (YouTube/Discovery UK)

These are then cooked for five hours at a low temperature, before being put into a blast freezer to cool them down.

From there, they head to another cooler for a few days, which makes the meat 'easier to slice' for when they head to the sizing station to get a quick trim.

"They also pass under a metal detector to confirm that no piece from the metal hanger has gotten lodged in the meat," the video explained.

Finally, the pork bellies are put into chutes which sway back and forth over a blade, creating those iconic bacon pieces we all know and love.

They then tumble onto another conveyor belt to get blasted in a browning microwave, before being packaged and ferried off to supermarkets.

It's a wild ride, that's for sure - and a lot of people were left with a bad taste in their mouths after finding out the truth about bacon, in particular the 'liquid smoke' element.

One social media user said: "'Liquid smoke and other flavouring', yeah...that’s not going in my body again."

Another wrote: "This the last time I look up how something is made."

A third added: "You absolutely know none of these workers eat bacon anymore," while a fourth typed: "People say bacon taste 'good' yet its just the seasonings."

A social media user also explained what 'liquid smoke' is actually 'exactly what it says on the tin, commenting: "burn wood, run the smoke through a condensing column, and then capture the resulting liquid."

However, other viewers were left with an uncontrollable hankering for bacon after watching the clip, saying nothing could put them off the stuff.

One chimed in: "This hasn't reduced my love for bacon in any way, I just think about how much work it takes."

And a second joked: "Came here expecting to be put off bacon for life, left wanting bacon."

So, will you still bring home the bacon, or will you be giving it a miss from now on?