To not have known that deli chicken is a level 1 carcinogen

[nevertearusapart]

Am feeling fairly stupid about this but only just realised that deli chicken / turkey are considered level 1 carcinogenic processed meats so linked to negative health effects incl. cancer. The examples used are typically ham, sausages, bacon, salami etc so I just assumed red meat for some reason. The deli chicken that we eat was labelled 100% natural and only contained chicken, potato starch, salt and vinegar but it now looks like it’s almost bad as the rest.
Does everyone know things like this and what do people put in kids lunches? (And yes I know it’s all about daily / excessive consumption etc etc)

It's a sea of green!!! Excellent.

@Solymoly I don’t think that it matters, looks like salt is a ‘natural’ nitrate but, when the chicken is processed with it, the ‘bad’ nitrates produced are equally concerning as the artificial nitrates

Guardian article on huge new study

"Eating processed or red meat increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, with just two slices of ham a day raising the danger by 15%, the largest study of its kind suggests.

Research led by the University of Cambridge and involving 2 million people worldwide provides the most comprehensive evidence yet of a link between meat and the disease that presents one of the most pressing dangers to global health."

DH is now resolved to buy more raw whole chickens and cook from scratch!

Today's children and teens will be the first generation where life expectancy actually begins to fall for the first time - ever.

probably because they are poorer & will have to work longer despite no chage in yrs to healthy life expectancy!

If anyone is interested in the background to this, the research and how reliable the data and conclusions are you can read this:

https://www.zoeharcombe.com/2015/10/world-health-organisation-meat-cancer/

This article is written by Zoe Harcombe a writer who analyses nutrition and health research.

This a good quote "As Peter Cleave, Surgeon Captain, (1906-1983) said: “For a modern disease to be related to an old fashioned food is one of the most ludicrous things I have ever heard in my life.” To think that real meat, or meat preserved in natural ways, is bad for us is ludicrous. 1) You’d have to explain how we survived the past 3.5 million years, since Australopithecus Lucy first walked upright; especially how we survived the ice age(s). 2) You’d have to explain why all the nutrients we need to live (essential fats, complete protein, vitamins and minerals) are found in meat if it were trying to kill us at the same time."

The article is a 5 min read.

I wonder if people who say things like this have ever been abroad, salami, cured meats, smoking levels. Yet much lower cancer rates (of varying kinds)

Thats not deli meat, deli chicken is like ham but in chicken form, slices of formed chicken.

You're just talking about pre cooked packaged chicken.

I was thinking about Spain and all the ham they eat!

We go to Spain a lot and are absolutely sick to death of ham/pork, cheese, olives and bread by the time we get back!

According to BBC Good Food it’s considered a UPF but is really good for you in moderation.

Well damn... I've been buying Tesco Finest chicken slices hoping these were better. I guess not. What about Passata? Tinned lentils and pulses?

I've got no time during weekdays to cook whole chickens and soak beans and lentils and make my own sauces from vine tomatoes every day :'(

What about oat milk? Breakfast cereals?

get the app

The level of cognitive dissonance in this thread. Waaaaa waaa. Bloody hell. A bit of info about food and everyone is crying. There are people dying of famine being raped in Sudan and a bit of news about bloody chicken makes everyone cry on here.

Who is crying? I think there are lots of twats on
Mumsnet but I choose to be here so if I don’t like it, I’m the dickhead. If there was an event held in your local town, would you stick your head in, decide it wasn’t for you, then before you leave find the organiser and tell them it was shite?

I read that article and don't understand how eating lean red meat would raise risk of Diabetes. I am eating a lot of it at the moment as it's one of the few ways I lose weight, so steak about 4 times a week.

I'll cut down in a couple of months because of the colon cancer risk, but diabetes -- no, don't get it.

I saw a programme but do not remember the exact stats, it was however a nought point something difference between those that ate bacon and ham and those that did not for getting colorectal cancer. Very small.

Spanish and Italians eat tons of ham and always have done, I would say it is part of a true Mediterranean diet.

It has made me think though OP.
I switched to roast beef and deli chicken for sandwiches to avoid ham. I am going to check the packets now and maybe change it up.

I'm pretty sure the Spanish and Italians eat proper cured meats, hung for months etc.

Not the doused with stabilisers crap we have on the supermarkets shelves.
They would laugh at our 'ham'.

What do you mean proper cured meats? It doesn't matter whether they're cured with nitrates, smoke, salt or whatever else, or how long they're cured for, meat preserved like this is considered processed meat. Most of the cured pork on our supermarket shelves comes from Spain anyway.

This a good quote "As Peter Cleave, Surgeon Captain, (1906-1983) said: “For a modern disease to be related to an old fashioned food is one of the most ludicrous things I have ever heard in my life.” To think that real meat, or meat preserved in natural ways, is bad for us is ludicrous. 1) You’d have to explain how we survived the past 3.5 million years, since Australopithecus Lucy first walked upright; especially how we survived the ice age(s). 2) You’d have to explain why all the nutrients we need to live (essential fats, complete protein, vitamins and minerals) are found in meat if it were trying to kill us at the same time."

I totally disagree with this 'quote'.

The industrial produced meat we eat now bears little resemblance to the meat eaten for the last 3.5 million years.
Animals are bred large scale, indoors with no access to grass or natural food. They are fed foods they would not naturally eat, are preloaded with antibiotics to prevent illness and bred with unnatural sizes of desirable meat parts.
These animals are stressed, unwell and do not have the natural body compositions of the animals our great grandparents would have eaten.
They are consumed in larger quantities by humans than ever before in history.

I eat meat so I'm not trying to fly a flag or anything.

But we need to be realistic. This is in no way natural these days.

This just isn't true. We import most pork from Denmark.

Meats can be cured with chemicals or naturally.
There is a difference in the added chemicals.
I'd place bets on the modern added chemicals being bad for human health if eaten regularly over time. Especially by children who are growing and developing.

Just a hunch.

But you go ahead and eat it and feed it to your family and friends if you like.
The rest of us will make our own choices thanks.

Not beef and lamb from the UK. Maybe in the US (I don’t know) but I’m from a farming background I don’t recognise this.

This just isn't true. We import most pork from Denmark.

You were talking about Spanish and Italian 'proper cured meats' which are all available for sale here, not pork in general. Serrano ham, chorizo, parma ham, saucisse sèche, Milano ham, prosciutto crudo etc.

Meats can be cured with chemicals or naturally.
There is a difference in the added chemicals.

They are considered carcinogenic no matter what they're cured with. Look it up.

But you go ahead and eat it and feed it to your family and friends if you like.
The rest of us will make our own choices thanks.

I'm vegetarian.

Sadly it is happening . . .

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/18/uk-has-more-than-1000-livestock-mega-farms-investigation-reveals

Indeed, routine antibiotic use in farming is banned in the UK and EU.