Supermarkets hit by falling demand for nitrite-cured bacon due to cancer fears | UK news

UK supermarkets have been hit by a ‘bacon backlash’ as ​​consumers fear chemicals used to preserve it increase the risk of cancer.

Campaigners against the use of nitrites in meat production said falling sales showed a “consumer revolt” against the traditional form of nitrite-cured bacon was accelerating.

At the same time, sales of nitrite-free bacon – made by companies including M&S, Waitrose and Finnebrogue – are increasing, with bacon lovers choosing potentially safer alternatives.

In 2016, the World Health Organization declared that processed meat, including bacon, was a cause of cancer, along with tobacco and asbestos.

Since then, the vast majority of bacon sold in the UK is still treated with nitrites, to maintain its pink color. But campaigners say “a radical market shift” is underway.

New data collected by consumer analysts Worldpanel by Numerator and published by the Coalition Against Nitrite showed that the value of sales of nitrite-cured bacon fell 7.3% in the 12 weeks to January 25 compared to the same period the previous year. Consumers bought £238.4m of this bacon in the most recent period, a drop of £18.7m on the £257m worth of slices purchased a year earlier.

Conversely, sales of the nitrite-free alternative increased in this quarter to £9.4 million, a 21.7% increase on the £7.8 million recorded in the same period a year earlier.

A campaign spokesperson said: “£18.7m has been wiped off sales of nitrite-cured bacon in just three months. This isn’t a fluctuation, it’s a consumer revolt. Shoppers… don’t want additives in their food.”

Professor Chris Elliott, a leading food safety expert who is part of the Coalition Against Nitrite, said: “Consumers are acting first, responding to the overwhelming scientific evidence linking nitrite-cured meats to cancer and realizing that these chemicals simply do not need to be used to make the bacon and ham that so many of us love to eat.

Labor, Conservative, Green, Liberal Democrat and Democratic Unionist MPs are backing the coalition’s campaign to persuade ministers to order the use of nitrites in meat to be phased out.

Elliott added: “The use of carcinogenic nitrites is increasingly out of step with public expectations. It is no longer a fringe issue. It is a mainstream market correction, backed by cross-party political support.”

However, the Food Standards Agency said the link between nitrites and health “remains inconclusive”.

Separate sets of figures from the company and NIQ, another sales tracking company, also showed that total sales of nitrite-cured bacon fell to just over £1 billion a year.

Bacon sales fell 4.9% year-on-year in the year to last November, reaching a combined value of £1.03 billion, according to data from Worldpanel by Numerator. However, sales of nitrite-free bacon increased in the same period by 2.9%, to just over £31 million.

Rebecca Tobi, head of food sector transformation at think tank Food Foundation, said: “The decline in sales of traditional cured bacon will be good for the nation’s health in the long term and the emergence of nitrite-free products means those who continue to eat bacon have a healthier alternative.

“A third of the meat we eat in the UK is processed, a figure even higher in children, despite the very strong body of evidence linking processed meat to a higher risk of developing a number of chronic diseases, including bowel cancer.” “

Nick Allen, chief executive of trade body British Meat Processors Association, said it was up to individual bacon producers to decide whether or not to use nitrites.

“Although nitrites play an important role in food safety, the final decision regarding the amount used in different curing recipes lies not with processors, but with product brand owners. Competing brands order their own recipes, which can be very varied.”

“Significant and ongoing efforts have been made by processors to reduce nitrites in charcuterie products. Our producers have, for several years, implemented new methods to reduce the use of nitrites as much as possible without endangering public health.”