What is carcinogenic in 2015? Everything we eat, apparently. Sugar, bacon and booze found themselves on a World Health Organization cancer hit list this year. Confectionery and sugary junk food also featured towards the top of the target list, as did rice, tap water, red meat and absolutely anything processed - plus peanuts, crackers, and cereal. Oh, and glyphosate (or Roundup) - the world’s most widely used weedkiller - is “probably carcinogenic” the WHO concluded. So that’s fruit, veg, grains etc etc.
The tabloids had a field day. The food industry didn’t, particularly in an October report in which the WHO provocatively ranked processed meats on the same danger level as smoking and asbestos. Sales of bacon and sausages fell £3m, a drop of 10%, in just two weeks, as The Grocer exclusively revealed.
A sheepish WHO backtracked, “clarifying” that it hadn’t recommended consumers stop eating processed meat, just to cut back a little. A better plan - when scaring consumers with the c-word - might be to ensure 100% clarity in the first place.
No comments yet