It seems meat eaters and investors didn’t so much as bat an eyelash when the World Health Organization labeled bacon, wieners, and other processed meats on a list of possible causes for cancer, but the industry has still addressed the move with vigor.
“Classifying red and processed meat as cancer ‘hazards’ defies both common sense and numerous studies showing no correlation between meat and cancer,” the North American Meat Institute said in a statement, according to the Clinton Herald, calling the World Health Organization “alarmist.”
Although the report, announced on Monday, said that processed meats, and “probably” red meats, too, raised the risk of colon, stomach, and other cancers. The Clinton Herald reports, however, that meat producers’ shares changed very little despite the information, and that meat eaters at a New York food court had and equally apathetic reaction by mostly shrugged it off.
Hormel Foods also commented on the report, stating that it “did not look at the benefits of meat consumption,” which it cited as including “important nutrients” and “high quality proteins.”
Additional defense was reported by the New York Times, stating that experts who weren’t involved in the World Health Organization’s report said that, if anything, the findings should give people more reason to “moderate” their processed meat intake rather than stopping it, even cautioning that any potential for increased risk of cancer was “relatively small.”
Reuters reported that the public was not very receptive as well, with negative tweets outnumbering positive ones by a ratio of nearly 7 to 1 on Monday, according to the analysis tool, with even celebrities tweeting or defiantly posting pictures with the meat products in question.
Despite the controversy, it looks like the processed and red meat industries have a loyal following. DeliMarket News will continue to report on this story as it develops.
