Pointing to a WHO agency finding that processed meat is “carcinogenic to humans,” the Center for Science in the Public Interest petitioned USDA to require a cancer warning label on packages of bacon, ham, hot dogs and other processed red meat and poultry. Michael Jacobson, leader of the consumer group, said chances are slim the incoming Trump administration will agree with the petition, “but at CSPI we’re used to taking the long view.”
“Consumers deserve these warning labels to help them make informed choice about the foods they eat,” Jacobson said in a statement. The USDA has used its discretion to require labels on mechanically tenderized meat or meat processed without nitrate or nitrite, so it can order meatpackers to put a warning label on processed meat, said the consumer group.
The meat industry derided CSPI as “food police” that used “alarmist, sensational … scare tactics” against “safe, nutritious and USDA-inspected meat products.” The trade group North American Meat Institute said there was no correlation between meat and cancer. “Scientific evidence shows cancer is a complex disease not caused by single foods and that a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle choices are essential to good health,” said the trade group
In October 2015, the U.N. International Agency for Research on Cancer said a panel of experts had concluded that processed meat is “carcinogenic to humans,” the strongest category of evidence that an agent is capable of causing cancer. The panel listed red meat as “probably carcinogenic to humans,” the second-strongest rating on IARC’s five-point scale.
The IARC panel said the risk of colorectal cancer increased 18 percent for each 50 grams, or 1.7 ounces, of processed meat that is consumed. An individual’s risk of colorectal cancer is small, said an IARC official when the panel decision was announced, but “the global impact on cancer incidence is of public health importance” because of the large number of people who eat processed meats, which can be salted, cured, fermented or smoked.
CSPI asked in its regulatory petition for a label that says, “USDA WARNING: Frequent consumption of processed meat products may increase your risk of developing cancer of the colon and rectum. To protect your health, limit consumption of such products.”
The American Cancer Society says American men have a 1 in 21 risk of developing colon or rectal cancer during their lifetime and a 1 in 50 risk of dying from it. Risk levels for women are slightly lower. The group also says colorectal cancer is the third-most commonly diagnosed cancer and the No. 3 cause of cancer death for Americans.
Meanwhile, USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, which oversees meat processors, opened a 60-day comment period on its proposal to update the nutrition panel that appears on packages of red meat and poultry. The revisions would parallel the changes that FDA made to the Nutrition Facts label earlier this year.
To read the FSIS proposal, click here.