I did end up calling the customer service number on the bacon package. The representative was kind, calm, and clearly used to panicked calls from people like me.
She asked me to describe the chunk. Color? Pale. Texture? Firm and rubbery. Size? About an inch long. Location? Between slices, not attached to the meat.
“Oh,” she said, “that’s just a lymph node. Happens sometimes. You can cut it off if it bothers you, but it’s perfectly safe to eat. Would you like me to mail you a coupon for a free package?”
I said yes to the coupon. I also asked her how often people call about this.
“Every single day,” she said. “Usually around holiday weekends when people are cooking for company. You’d be amazed how many people think they’ve found a tumor or a worm or something. It’s almost always a lymph node.”
She told me that if more people understood basic meat anatomy, they’d save themselves a lot of stress. So that’s what I’m trying to do here.
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