Experts are calling for cigarette-style cancer warnings on bacon and ham sold in the UK, accusing successive governments of doing “virtually nothing” to reduce the risks linked to nitrites used in processed meats.
It comes a decade after the World Health Organization (WHO) classified processed meat as carcinogenic to humans, placing it in the same risk category as tobacco and asbestos. Nitrites — chemicals used to cure and preserve meats and give them their pink colour — have been linked to bowel cancer, one of the UK’s most common and deadly cancers.
Scientists from the WHO’s original working group and other food safety experts have written to Health Secretary Wes Streeting, urging him to require clear health warnings on packets of nitrite-cured meat and to phase out the chemicals entirely within a few years. They estimate that government inaction has contributed to 54,000 bowel cancer cases and cost the NHS £3bn since 2015.
“Consumers deserve clear information,” said Prof Denis Corpet of Toulouse University. “Most people don’t realise that nitrite-cured meats like bacon and ham are in the same carcinogenic category as tobacco and asbestos.”
While the World Cancer Research Fund confirmed there is “clear evidence” linking processed meat to colorectal cancer, it stopped short of backing warning labels, instead calling for tighter dietary guidance and improved access to healthier foods.
Prof Chris Elliott, a former government adviser, criticised the UK’s “decade of delay,” warning that “every year means more preventable cancers.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said the Food Standards Agency considers the evidence linking nitrites to cancer “inconclusive.”
