On Monday, Oct. 27, the World Health Organization (WHO) released a report that saddened meat lovers from all over the world. According to the report, processed meat is carcinogenic.
WHO listed hot dogs, sausages, beef jerky, canned meat, corned beef, and even meat-based sauces among processed meat that can increase the likelihood of cancer.
Chinese people in particular are bound to be devastated as there's a longstanding culinary tradition in the country involving preserved salted pork and ham.
The finding comes as no surprise, however. According to Fan Zhihong, a researcher in nutrition and food safety at China Agricultural University, processed meat has long been suspected as harmful to one's health. In fact, frequent consumption of processed meat greatly increases the risk of two kinds of cancer: colorectal and breast.
"A major reason for the rapid rise of incidence of colorectal cancer in China in the past few years is that people are consuming more unhealthy food, including processed meat and fried or smoked food," Fan said in an interview with China Daily.
Kurt Straif, the head of the IARC Monographs Programme, also shared that the risk of cancer depends on consumption.
"For an individual, the risk of developing colorectal cancer because of their consumption of processed meat remains small, but this risk increases with the amount of meat consumed," Straif said.
Processed food also contains nitrites, which may be the real cause behind such health problems because of chemical complications.
Some people are welcoming of changes when it comes to their diet. There's for instance Beijing resident Wang Ying, who is open to the idea of reducing the consumption of processed meat. For her, however, rejecting processed meat completely is unrealistic.