It’s a country associated with charcuterie, yet it was France who led the world last year when it unveiled plans to dramatically limit the use of hidden nitrites and nitrates in meat products.
The preservatives, most commonly used to cure and to colour processed deli meats and sausages, had been linked to bowel cancer in a number of studies since the World Health Organisation first raised alarm in 2015. The country’s health agency, ANSES, was taking no more chances.
Since then, the French government has begun phasing out the use of nitrates and nitrites in processed meats, including exported gourmet hams and saucissons, while similar curbs have been applied at farming level in the Netherlands and Germany. Now, there are fresh calls for the UK to follow suit, following the publication of a new study suggesting the chemicals could be harmful even at smaller levels than previously thought.
Professor Chris Elliott, who led the UK government’s food systems review following the 2013 horsemeat scandal, last week called on the country’s government to enforce a new ban on use of the preservatives due to their apparent carcinogenic effect. It comes in the wake of his latest research, a consumption study conducted alongside scientists from Belfast’s Queens University, which found mice given a diet consisting of 15 per cent nitrite-containing sausage developed 53 per cent more gastrointestinal tumours than mice fed a non-nitrite diet – including, critically, a group fed non-nitrite containing sausage.
Dr Brian Green, one of the authors of the study, published in the journal Nature, said: “The results from our study clearly show that not all processed meats carry the same risk of cancer and that the consumption of nitrite-containing processed meat exacerbates the development of cancerous tumours.”
Further, while the study’s authors acknowledged 15 per cent nitrate-pork in the diet was “a relatively high intake of processed meat,” all previous preclinical trials had used a minimum of 50 per cent processed meat in the diet.
“It clearly demonstrates that lower dietary quantities can exacerbate the disease,” they wrote. Given the prevalence of nitrites in processed foods – the average American now consumes 75-100mg of nitrates a day – the conclusion has raised alarm across the food industry.
Yet for consumers, particularly in an import-prevalent country such as the UAE, the issue of whether to avoid nitrates and nitrites is a complex one, not least because both chemicals are naturally and safely present in a host of vegetables. While ham and bacon, deli meats, hot dogs and smoked salmon are among the worst offenders for high levels of artificial nitrite and nitrates, the chemicals are also prevalent in greens including bok choy, spinach, lettuce, celery and parsley.
Kana Wu, a member of WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and a senior research scientist in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health says this can lead to confusion for diners keen to make educated choices about food.
“So-called ‘nitrate-free’ processed meats are often preserved with celery juice, a plant rich in nitrate. The source of nitrate added for meat preservation will likely not matter. Furthermore, processed meats can also contain other carcinogenic compounds such as PAHs which can be formed during smoking of meat. Processed meats, particularly those containing red meat, also contain heme iron, which can enhance the formation of carcinogenic compounds in the body. Until we know more about the exact mechanisms underlying the relationship between processed meat and cancers, it is best to treat those nitrate-free processed meats the same as any other processed meats and limit intake.”
Wu also warns that while concern has been primarily applied to red meats, popular halal products such as poultry hot dogs and bacon are not automatically better for those looking to limit their exposure to nitrates.
“Chicken and turkey hot dogs and turkey bacon may also contain preservatives such as nitrates,” she explains. “However, those meats contain less heme iron than processed meats made from red meats. A good alternative is to replace red or processed meat with unprocessed, fresh chicken or turkey, which is a good source of protein, vitamins and minerals. Also to be considered are nuts, peanuts, soy, and legumes, such as hummus.
Food standards experts, meanwhile, say nitrites and nitrates currently play a key role in preventing the growth of harmful organisms that can lead to life-threatening illness, and are safe at recommended levels.
“Studies have shown that the higher the intake of processed meat, the higher the risk of colorectal cancers and other chronic diseases, but this does not mean you have to cut out all red and processed meats from your diet,” Wu concludes. “Ideally, we should be thinking of red meat as we do lobster, having it for a special occasion if we like it. This is how red meat is consumed in many traditional eating cultures, such as the Mediterranean diet. Other organisations have also recommended limiting consumption of red meat for better health, including the American Heart Association, the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) and the American Cancer Society.”