Cancer warning slashes £3m off sausage and bacon sales

AFTER taking pride of place on British dinner tables for centuries, the popularity of sausages and bacon has plunged following a cancer warning.

Sales of bacon and sausages at major supermarkets fell by £3million in the two weeks after a World Health Organisation report said processed meat had the same cancer-causing risk as cigarettes.

Commercial analyst IRI Retail Advantage said sales for pre-packed bacon dropped by 17 per cent in the week after the WHO published a report last month concluding that processed meat was a carcinogen. The sales continued to fall sharply the following week and were down by 16.5 per cent.

Pre-packed sausage sales slumped 15.6 per cent in the last week in October and 13.9 per cent in the first week of November. IRI told The Grocer magazine that this drop ‘due to the scare’ – was equivalent to £3million.

Sausage producers reacted furiously, pointing out that fresh British sausages would not be classified as processed meat according to the WHO’s own classifications.

Northern Irish sausage producer Finnebrogue threatened to take legal action against the WHO over the report’s claims.

But the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board said bacon and sausage manufacturers were ‘already seeing a recovery in sales’, adding: ‘It is reassuring to know sales are back to normal in most areas.’