These additives give cooked ham its pink color, which is naturally grey, and allow products containing them to be kept longer.
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All is not good in ham. L’National Food Safety Agency (ANSES) confirmed “the existence of an association between the risk of colorectal cancer and exposure to nitrates and nitrites”in particular via processed meat, in a notice published on Tuesday July 12 after several months of work.
Historically, pork butchers have used nitrated components to extend the shelf life of products and prevent the development of pathogenic bacteria that cause botulism in particular, a serious neurological condition that has been largely forgotten due to health progress. These are also the components that give the naturally gray ham its pink color.
The health agency says that the analysis of data from scientific publications published on the subject “joins the classification” of the World Health Organization (WHO), which classified processed meat, including cold cuts, as carcinogenic in 2015. It recommends reducing exposure to nitrites in food.
In February, the National Assembly voted the principle of a “downward trajectory” maximum doses of nitro additives in charcuterie, but without moving towards a ban on these controversial preservatives. This text was proposed by the centrist deputy of Loiret, Richard Ramos, who saw in it a first “concrete response to junk food, which mainly affects the poorest”.
Before going any further, the government said it wanted “wait for the return” from ANSES. He was engaged “follow advice” of the health agency. This opinion, initially expected in 2021, had been postponed to the end of the first half of 2022 by the agency, which had mentioned a “complex referral” and refuted “categorically any stalemate in the ongoing expertise”.