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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to be annoyed at World Cancer Research Fund "outlawing" processed meat in lunchboxes?

98 replies

bookbird · 17/08/2009 11:58

AIBU to feel that parents are constantly scare mongered? I'm constantly worrying about what's best to feed my children.

When they say processed, they mean anything preserved with salt. This means ham, bacon and salami are all off the menu! (well, no more than 70g a week).

Should WCRF keep such thoughts to themselves rather than announcing on BBC? Also why isn't this top news on the Food Standards Agency website.

OP posts:
fufflebum · 17/08/2009 12:02

We were talking about this too! Most children I know love ham and sausages and it rules out most kids menus I have seen. We always choose the better cuts of meat and highest percentage of meat sausages possible when I cook them.

It does seem like scare mongering as certainly the older generation has eaten gammon and ham in the past and sausages too.

I would think that it is a case of all things in moderation.

It does make it a challenge for children who have packed lunches every day.

nicknameidlike · 17/08/2009 12:03

i heard this this morning and it is quite scary i am veggie but my 2ds eat meat and they love a sandwich on bacon ,ham etc are we just supposed to stop serving it and what about the harm its already done if god forbid they ever get cancer in my life time do i have to agonise over the fact i gave them some salami or whatever

Stigaloid · 17/08/2009 12:03

Depends - knowing that processed meat can lead to bowel cancer, would you happily feed your children with that knowledge or prefer to live in ignorance and play russian roulette with their health?

nicknameidlike · 17/08/2009 12:05

but i didnt know it thats the point and they are 16 and 18

chichichien · 17/08/2009 12:06

More explanation would be good.

We eat a hell of a lot of processed food in this country. You can buy good quality meat products and crap ones.

If this research leads to the government regulating processed foods more strictly, then good. Starting off by telling people not to include it in lunch boxes doesn't seem particularly sensible.

BaconAndEggs · 17/08/2009 12:07

I don't think it can be called "scare mongering" - after all, many pople may think of ham as a perfectly healthy sandwich filling and give it to their dcs every day, which would probaby increase their risk of bowel cancer. I'd rather know. It doesn't mean I'd stop giving ham, but I'd make different choices sometimes. Everything in moderation!

cheesesarnie · 17/08/2009 12:17

agree with Stigaloid.

yabu to be annoyed at being given information.its up to you what you do with it.if they have found links then they cant 'keep such thoughts to themselves rather than announcing on BBC'.

were all veggie except dh and he doesnt get fed much meat at home unless he cooks(i am mean).

proverbial · 17/08/2009 12:18

Humans hae been presering meat with salt for hundreds of thousands of years. I personally am far more concerned about mucher newer treatments such as hydrogenated fats, artificial sweeteners and preseratives and so on.
If you get into it, theres a risk element to almost anything you feed your children. Unless you want to knit your own yoghurt and force feed them mung bean sprouts, you just need to weigh it up and not stress too much.

I limit artificial additives and stay away from transfats and much processed food. I certainly won't stop giving them good quality salami, prosciutto, smoked meats and fish though. Thats staple food!

proverbial · 17/08/2009 12:20

Good god the typos in that post! I do have builders knocking down walls in the rooms above me though, its quite distracting!

muffle · 17/08/2009 12:24

As ever though, the headlines are all about "banning ham" and making out that they are trying to make us stop eating it completely - then when you read the details they actually are just advising us to cut down and not give it to children every day.

It's nothing new either - this has been known about for ages.

Morloth · 17/08/2009 12:24

hmmmm possible bowel cancer or a life without bacon?

Bit of a no brainer for me. Surely bacon is the reason for pigs?

Got to die of something, if it is an excess of bacon then I accept that.

I feed the boy a good solid diet of "a little bit of everything and not too much of anything". He appears healthy and strong and fit so it works.

Even my gorgeous young boy will have to die of something one day, that is the way it goes.

It's OK though cause I like to counter the cancer causing effects of processed meat with plenty of cancer fighting anti-oxidants most specifically the type found in wine.

Original poster
bookbird · 17/08/2009 12:26

Ok, I ABU if I were to be annoyed at being given information, but what really makes me angry is that this is dropped into the public arena the lack of information.

To top it off, fish is advised as a suitable alternative. Watch how we all now give our children mercury poisoning from too many tuna sandwiches! At least they didn't suggest eggs as an alternative though

OP posts:
muffle · 17/08/2009 12:28

Agree morloth, and loads of foods are linked to cancer anyway in excess - fatty foods, red meat, pepper. Even soya has been linked to some health issues. I'm sure the healthiest approach is to eat a wide variety of food and as much of it good quality as you can afford.

Original poster
bookbird · 17/08/2009 12:33

last post made great sense - sorry.

OP posts:
chichichien · 17/08/2009 12:34

when they say processed, they do not mean anything preserved with salt. There are many many chemical additives nowadays.

BaconAndEggs · 17/08/2009 12:35

Just eat a bit of everything then ;)
I think it's so easy to be offended when anyone says any of your choices are not the "healthiest" way of living (not aimed specifically at you, bookbird!) But who does everything exactly the way that is "best"? And the best way is often contridicted anyway! It doesn't mean people should stop giving us information though imo. The media sometimes go a bit nuts with it, but if everyone makes informed choices they can do what the hell they like with it. I'd rather not live completely in the dark, or is that just me?

DunderMifflin · 17/08/2009 12:36

Good work Morloth - I'm with you!

chichichien · 17/08/2009 12:40

I agree with you, bacon.

This is the latest research, some stuff is probably not terribly good for you. You may want to do something about that new piece of information. You may not. That is the sort of imformation-heavy society we live in.

Banning processed meat from lunchboxes is a very heavy-heanded, tabloid interpretation of that information. But we all know what sells papers.

Morloth · 17/08/2009 12:45

Do people actually need to be told this stuff though? I mean the foods in question tell you themselves that they are not great in excess.

They all taste extremely salty and they are usually quite fatty and IME that limits how much of them you can eat in any case.

The real problem is stuff that has been messed around with that overrides your body's natural ability to say "mmmm lovely salt, that's enough".

People are not stupid.

chichichien · 17/08/2009 12:55

I think people should be told a lot more about processed meats, yes. For example, it doesn't mean anything preserved with salt. One day the government might even tackle the huge processing businesses.

Whether people pay any attention to it is completely up to them.

chichichien · 17/08/2009 12:56

Being stupid and uninformed are two completely different things

MadameCastafiore · 17/08/2009 13:00

This is one of those things where you have to eat a pig and a hal'f a week or something isn't it?

Everything in moderation is fine or we would all be boring anally retentive twats like Gwenyth Paltrow!

LovelyTinOfSpam · 17/08/2009 13:06

What a load of toss.

Read the BBC thing and listened to the woman from the organisation.

She did not any any point say what the problem factor was. Is it the salt? Is it the sodium nitrite that most hams, salamis etc have in them? If so, what about smoked fish, is that a problem? Or is it to do with the fat levels?

Even when asked directly she just said "avoid all processed meat". Well butchering is a process, isn't it. And freezing...

What I need is for them to tell me specifically what the risky thing is - salt, fat, chemicals, whatever. Then I can decide whether to avoid them. Plus I might be able to find products which contain less of whatever the risky thing is.

Just saying "avoid all processed meats" - which she does say in the interview - and not saying why is ludicrous and no halp at all. It is not actually information it is just an instruction with no explanation. How does that help us understand the pros and cons of the foods we eat and the processes they undergo?

GivePeasAChance · 17/08/2009 13:11

I am trying to think of something that doesn't give you cancer.

Mmmm

Mmmmmm

Mmmmmmmmm

Oh, ok everything I can think of has been shown to 'cause' cancer. The key is...........no bugger knows what causes it.

weegiemum · 17/08/2009 13:16

Great to see this on the news on the first morning the schools are back and 2 out of my 3 have ham sandwiches for lunch.

Feel like I have to defend myself in that they all have wholemeal bread, cucumber and carrot sticks, a banana or a kiwi and some yoghurt!

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