"He eats meat, but can't eat any processed meat."

[Flangelica]

If someone said this to you when you asked about dietary requirements for a child, would you think they were massively w*nky/snobby, or is it socially acceptable and fine?

There are actual dietary requirements where people can’t eat the nitrates in processed meats.
not they could be health conscious freaks but either way how hard is it to just not give bacon and sausages? Why the need to fight their request?

If I was told this by a parent about a child under 10, I would view the parent as fussy as heck and to suspect they have other fussiness I might get on wrong side of (*). I guess easy solution is to put just starch+veg on child's plate if their preference doesn't match what we need to be eating that meal.

(*) that reminds me when DS was guest at a house & refused the dinner (he is almighty fussy, too). I wasn't bothered, DS has tiny appetite so wasn't bothered, but other parent was horrified that DS didn't / refused to eat. Kept saying how her boys ate whatever they were given... I'm wondering if she was annoyed at me for raising a fussy eater. Heck I find his fussiness annoying too, so fair enough.

I think it's weird to not point out if your child has an actual allergy. Don't need their medical history.

So just saying 'no processed meat' to me doesn't point to an allergy. I think you'd say if it was that - if it was the least bit serious.

So yes I think it sounds a bit precious.

They'd be having Margarita Pizza for supper.

I'm not sure if someone has mentioned this up thread and I'm about to do school pick-up so don't have time to read through it all but I would assume that maybe the child had a problem with nitrates/sulphates that you find in processed meat. They can exacerbate asthma (and probably other things too) quite badly in some people .

When my partners asthmas was very bad a few years ago he could only eat nitrate free bacon/sausages etc or he got very wheezy about 20 minutes after eating.

Maybe he is allergic to sodium nitrite.

Wouldn't be an issue for me - I'd just do cheese and tomato pizza, wraps with various fillings, cheesy pasta or something with no meat in it.

Minced beef itself is not considered processed.

This is another thing...equating "processed meat" with "crap food". Is prosciutto di parma crap food? Speck, guanciale, the best chorizos? Breasola, pancetta, all of the french saucisson, jamon iberico?

Oh come on. It's a discussion, not a dissertation. It's obvious what the context of this discussion is.

But anyway. Most processed meat in the UK is pretty crap and cheaply produced. There are artisanal producers, but that's not really what we're talking about here. Plus,the examples you give are preserved meat products made in other countries, broadly speaking. That's really very different to mass produced cheap sausages here.

The Consorzio del Prosciutto di Parma prevent the use of nitrates. Pancetta, some saucisson, many chorizos - for example - frequently contain nitrates. It takes a bit of effort to find decent stuff, wherever you are.

I'm not sure what that adds to the thread though.

I'd smile politely and cook something vegetarian.

It might mean he has a bad reaction to the preservatives?

TBH, I have one child who'll happily chow down on rare steak but won't touch nuggets, and another who never saw a breaded product he didn't love, but would rather starve than eat a lamb chop - so I totally get it, better you know before the play date!

Nearly all play dates here involve margherita pizza so I’d probably, if anything, just check “does he eat cheese” and if so carry on.

I'd just ask if pizza is OK.

I prefer my child doesn't eat processed meat and I try to avoid it. However, I ďo let DC have I sometimes and I would not mention it for a sleepover.

Processed meat is a group 1 carcinogen so it definitely causes cancer. So it wouldn't bother me in the slightest if you asked me not to feed it to your child.

My own ds won't eat processed meat makes him gag, will eat normal meat chicken, beef, mince (is not processed) pork won't eat nuggets dippers burgers frozen pressed crap, will eat fish of any sort, play dates I normal just make whatever the parent says they will eat and make my son different and offer it also to the child also surprised a few parents when there kids have ate different veg ect,

Not a big deal. They might be trying to avoid their child being exposed to nitrates for very sensible health reasons (ie cancer) or it might be they have an intolerance or allergy (I avoid them where possible as I have asthma and suffer from migraines).

”Nitrosamines are linked to an increased risk of pancreatic and colorectal cancer. Sulfites. Sulfites are a preservative many people are sensitive to that can severely aggravate asthma.”

Most likely w*nky. Tell your step sister to give them a pizza and save the good meat for herself

This is completely not the point of the thread, but I'm wondering if I have a nitrite issue??

A few years ago I developed a reaction to eating bacon, and also tuna. Posh bacon is worse than cheap, shit bacon. It's like I get a big lump in my throat, comes on after about 15 minutes and takes about half an hour to subside. It's so scary that I've stopped eating bacon and tuna - it's been years now. I really would kill for a tuna and mayo sandwich tbh.

GP wasn't really interested when I mentioned it in passing during an appointment for something else - just said "don't eat them then". I've always thought it was something done to the meat/fish or the processing of it because I can eat pork joints etc no problem.

Hmmmm. Going to google this now.

I don't think its wanky or snobby to avoid processed meat as much as possible. It's really not good for you, despite it forming a big part of what's cuturally acceptable as children's food in the uk. However, for the odd playdate, unless there was an allergy, or a real dislike, I probably wouldn't make a thing of it.

40 years ago, a parent asking people not to smoke around their children was probably viewed as precious/wanky. Looking at these replies, it seems we don't really know any better now, as parents are still being sneered at for not wanting to expose their children to carcinogens.

There are plenty of carcinogens that we can't avoid (air pollution), but processed meat is very eat to cut out. It is easy to make food for kids that doesn't involve processed meat (cheese and tomato pizza, pasta and sauce, cheesy wraps, hummus and pitta), so why make a big deal of it?

It's not as if going along with the request is a massive hardship, or involves getting hold of obscure, pricy ingredients.

Because it is a one-off meal. It is not a big deal.
I would also suspect that anyone that made this request for health reasons would not be happy for their child to be given a pizza either.

Wouldn't bother me at all, you don't know his dietary needs.
For example a fair few processed meat products contain milk and therefore unsuitable for milk allergy sufferers.
Bit of a jump if anyone was to think it wanky.

I do try and avoid processes meat for health reasons. I would be quite happy if a child came to me with this as a request. Lots of stuff I could cook that would be cheap and not involve anything processed. I do think there are a range of genuine health problems which could mean someone could not eat processed food.

This request would not bother me. I don’t tend to do specific food for the kids on play dates and generally just give them what I would be making for tea for the rest of the family anyway. Could be fish fingers, might be a curry, could be pasta or whatever we are having. I’ve never understood the food snobbery. Food is food. Other than cost I’m not sure why some food seems to be considered more ‘wanky ’ than others. Some very cheap foods are considered ‘wanky’ on mumsnet. And some mumsnetters don’t seem to realise that some foods they consider wanky are actually staples in some countries.

If it’s a lifestyle choice, I think it’s wanky and unclear (all meat is processed). If it’s an allergy or an intolerance, the parents needs to be more explicit about the issue. From the instructions, processed fake meat/fish/veggie food would be fine and yet somehow…I get the feeling…not quite good enough…