Nitrites in ham: the alert of 60 million consumers on low-cost products: Femme Actuelle Le MAG

Nitrites, particularly present in cold meats, are food additives that help preserve food. They are used in particular to give a pink color to the ham, but also to preserve it for a long time. However, they pose health risks. Indeed, “the existence of an association between the risk of colorectal cancer and exposure to nitrites and/or nitrates ingested through the consumption of processed meat.” was demonstrated by the National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (ANSES) in July 2022.

In its November special issue “Premiers prix”, 60 million consumers highlighted a factor that widens inequalities. According to the consumer association, buying nitrite-free ham to take care of your health is not within everyone’s reach, because the prices are higher.

Nitrites, still present on the shelves, despite their health risks

According to Emmanuel Ricard, spokesperson for the League against Cancer and director of control actions interviewed by 60 million consumersnitrites are “directly incriminated, with a well-established level of proof, in the stomach cancers and colorectal cancers, of which more than 4,000 new cases per year are directly attributed to cured meats, but also potentially in other types of cancers”. Indeed, the consumer association explains that when injected into meat, nitrites break down into carcinogenic molecules.

Following this discovery, a government plan was launched in March 2023 aimed at reducing nitrites in products, without banning them. But then, why are there so many hams containing nitrites in supermarkets? The investigation carried out by 60 million consumers revealed that only a first-price ham not containing nitrites was sold in supermarkets.

Nitrite-free ham remains more expensive, denounces 60 million consumers

The consumers’ association was interested in the price and nitrite content of different brands of ham. She discovered that all the first-price hams ranging from 11.15 to 16.56 euros per kilo contained nitrites. With the exception of a ham sold at Intermarché at 14.58 euros per kilo. Private label hams without nitrites sell for between 16.36 and 21.29 euros per kilo. While for a national brand ham without nitrites, you have to count between 22.44 and 31.49 euros per kilo. Figures which show that nitrite-free ham is less accessible.

A situation summarized by Camille Dorioz, campaign manager for the Foodwatch association, as “a two-speed market, with additives nitrites for the most precarious and “without” for the richest.”

For the moment, ANSES recommends that consumers limit your consumption of cold meats to 150 grams per week, or about three slices of ham. A recommendation which, according to Camille Dorioz, postpones “once again the responsibility lies with the consumer: either he limits his consumption himself, or he pays more.”

Find the entire survey of 60 million consumers in the magazine special issue of Food and Health for the month of November 2023.

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