HONG KONG — Homemade smoked bacon is a long-enjoyed delicacy in China’s famous Sichuan cuisine. But the meaty dish is now under fire as “the criminal culprit” responsible for the heavy air pollution, according to officials in Sichuan.

Dazhou, a municipality located in the northeastern corner of Sichuan province, has suffered from especially “severe air pollution” since earlier this month, according to the provincial environmental monitoring center.

But according to officials from Dazhou’s own environmental protection bureau, the main cause is the smoking of bacon by local residents, according to a report Tuesday by the state-run China News Agency.

And what’s worse is that Dazhou might not be alone. Over in the region’s largest city, the government-owned Chongqing Evening News reported that the centuries-old winter tradition of smoking pork was behind a recent climb in PM 2.5, a pollutant consisting of tiny particles that can affect lung function and cause other problems.

However, some locals don’t agree.

Zheng Jian, head of Chongqing-based social-service agency Bayu NPO Development Center, was quoted in the second report as saying that while bacon-smoking can affect the air, it’s very unlikely there would be any “substantial impact.”

Zheng said that in any case, smoking bacon would have negligible effects on PM 2.5 levels.