cancer | The Adobo Chronicles

MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles) – What would a Filipino breakfast be like without longganisa (sausage) and tocino (pork or chicken cured meat)? Both, of course, are processed meats which the World Health Organization (WHO) is now officially saying cause cancer.

WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), in a report released in the Lancet medical journal, says that many studies show the links between cancer and the consumption of hot dog, bacon, red meat and processed pork, beef and lamb.

“These findings further support current public health recommendations to limit intake of meat,” Dr. Christopher Wild, who directs IARC, said in a statement.

Edgardo de la Cruz, president of the National Association of Longganisa and Tocino Makers (NALTM) said his group disputes the WHO findings, saying that Filipinos (and Filipino expatriates) have been eating their products every morning for many decades without any reports of increased cancer incidence.

“It is unfair to single out processed meat among the many food products and beverages that do, indeed, cause cancer,” de la Cruz said, adding, “We demand that WHO retract its statement because it will have a very serious impact on the longganisa and tocino business.”

NALTM is afraid that the WHO announcement will cause heart attack among small business owners who depend on longannisa and tocino-making, much more than processed meat will cause cancer.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (The Adobo Chronicles) – Imagine breakfast without bacon. Now you don’t have to. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has banned the production and sale of cured bacon in the country because of its link to cancer.

Bacon is either cured or uncured while all bacon is soaked in brine to give it flavor and prevent botulism. It is traditionally cured using a mixture of salt, water and synthetic sodium nitrite that acts as a preservative and made by mixing Nitrates, a naturally occurring compound in plants, with certain bacteria.

The USDA ban does not cover uncured bacon. Uncured bacon uses natural nitrates found in juice, sea salt and celery powder to achieve a similar taste, so uncured bacon does not have potentially harmful chemicals akin to sodium nitrite.

Soon after the surprising USDA announcement, the National Association of American Chefs (NAAC) filed papers in court seeking an injunction to stop USDA from implementing the ban.

“This will end the culinary career,” a spokesperson for NAAC said. “Bacon is to hotels and restaurants just like butter is to Julia Child and Paula Deen!”

Consumers nationwide are joining the NAAC in supporting the injunction.

In fact, a million march is being planned in Washington, D.C. the Sunday before Thanksgiving to demand the reinstatement of cured bacon as the beloved miracle ingredient in home cooking and holiday meals.

Meanwhile, big box stores like Costco and large supermaket chains like Safeway have reported that their freezers have practically been emptied in the last 24 hours by customers panicking about the soon-to-disappear cured bacon.