The Food Standards Agency (FSA) met with pressure group Coalition Against Nitrites, rejecting its aim to remove nitrites from foods.

Coalition Against Nitrites campaigns for the removal of nitrites from processed meats, and has written a letter to the Health Secretary as October 2025 marked 10 years since the World Health Organisation classified processed meat as a Group 1 carcinogen.

The group believes that this places nitrite-cured products like bacon and ham in the same category as tobacco and asbestos.

In a meeting with the Coalition Against Nitrites, FSA said that there was “no evidence that removing nitrites makes processed meat safer”.

Professor Rick Mumford, Acting Chief Scientific Advisor for the FSA said: “There is clear evidence, including from the World Health Organisation, that eating too much processed meat increases the risk of bowel cancer and other illnesses. This is why the NHS advises that people who eat more than 90g of red or processed meat a day should cut down to no more than 70g. The FSA fully supports this advice.”

British meat industry reduces use of nitrites

Commenting on the reduction of nitrite use in the British meat industry, David Lindars, technical operations director at the British Meat Processors Association (BMPA), stated: “Working with the latest scientific research, our producers have, over the last four years, been implementing new methods to get nitrite use as low as possible without jeopardising public health.

“In fact, BMPA members have achieved up to a two-thirds reduction in the need for nitrite use in products, which is well below the FSA limits.

“While nitrites play an important role in food safety, the ultimate decision on the amount used in different curing recipes rests not with the processors, but with the product brand owners. Competing brands commission their own-label recipes which can be quite varied.”