Cancer-free bacon is here... thanks to ‘UK breakthrough’
BRITISH bacon could soon be free from cancer-causing chemicals thanks to a scientific breakthrough, it was announced yesterday.
Nitrite-free bacon will soon appear on supermarket shelves in a move hailed as a “British success story”.
Northern Irish food manufacturer Finnebrogue said its Naked Bacon product is completely free of nitrites, E-numbers and allergens.
Many types of processed meat such as bacon and sausages contain nitrites which are salts from chemical or natural sources added as a preservative.
The World Health Organisation concluded in 2015 that processed meat, including bacon, could cause cancer. It said one possible reason was that nitrites in the body can form carcinogenic compounds called nitrosamines that can damage DNA.
A growing number of farmers and butchers now offer nitrite-free bacon but Finnebrogue believes its product is the first to look and taste like traditional bacon and maintain a similar shelf life.
Tory MP Neil Parish, chairman of the Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, said: “Making bacon without nitrites – and reducing the risk in the famous full English breakfast – is a remarkable feat of food technology and a brilliant British success story.
“This is further evidence that the British food industry is going from strength to strength.
“UK firms like Finnebrogue are leading the way in producing some of the best food anywhere in the world.”
Finnebrogue chairman Denis Lynn said: “Nitrites should not be in food. This is the biggest revolution to the British breakfast for a generation.”