UK supermarkets have been hit by an “anti-bacon backlash” as consumers fear the chemicals used to preserve it increase the risk of cancer.
Campaigners against the use of nitrites in meat production claimed the drop in sales showed a “consumer revolt” against the traditional form of nitrite-cured bacon was accelerating.
At the same time, sales of nitrite-free bacon – made by companies such as Marks & Spencer, Waitrose and Finnebrogue – are increasing, as bacon lovers choose potentially safer alternatives.
In 2016, the World Health Organization declared that processed meat, including bacon, caused cancer, as did tobacco and asbestos.
Since then, the vast majority of bacon sold in the UK is still treated with nitrites to help maintain its pink colour. But campaigners said “a dramatic shift in the market” was underway.
Data collected by consumer analysts Worldpanel by Numerator and published by the Coalition Against Nitrites showed that the value of sales of nitrite-cured bacon fell 7.3% during the 12 weeks to January 25 compared to the same period a year earlier. Consumers bought £238.4 million of this type of bacon in the most recent period, £18.7 million less than the £257 million of rashers bought a year earlier.
By contrast, sales of the nitrite-free alternative increased during that quarter to £9.4m, up 21.7% from £7.8m in the same period a year earlier.
A campaign spokesman said: “£18.7 million has been wiped out of sales of nitrite-cured bacon in just three months. That’s not a fluctuation, it’s a consumer revolt. Shoppers… don’t want additives in their food.”
Professor Chris Elliott, a leading food safety expert who is part of the Coalition Against Nitrites, said: “Consumers are acting first, responding to the overwhelming scientific evidence linking nitrite-cured meats to cancer and the realization that these chemicals simply do not need to be used to make the bacon and ham that many of us love to eat.”
Labor, Conservative, Green, Liberal Democrat and Democratic Union MPs and peers are backing the coalition’s campaign to persuade ministers to order a phase-out of the use of nitrites in meat.
Elliott added: “The use of carcinogenic nitrites is increasingly out of step with public expectations. This is no longer a fringe issue. It is a broad market correction, backed by cross-party political support.”
However, the Food Standards Agency said the link between nitrites and health “remains inconclusive”.
Separate sets of Worldpanel figures from Numerator and NIQ, another sales tracking company, also showed that total sales of nitrite-cured bacon had fallen to just over £1 billion a year.
According to data from Worldpanel by Numerator, sales of bacon fell 4.9% year-on-year in the year to last November, to a combined value of £1.03bn. However, sales of nitrite-free bacon increased over the same period by 2.9% to just over £31m.
Rebecca Tobi, director of food business transformation at think tank Food Foundation, said: “Declining sales of traditional cured bacon will be good for the country’s long-term health and the emergence of nitrite-free products means those who continue to eat bacon will have a healthier alternative available.
“A third of the meat we eat in the UK is processed, a figure that is even higher in children, despite the wealth of evidence linking processed meat with an increased risk of developing a number of chronic diseases, including bowel cancer.” “
Nick Allen, chief executive of trade body British Meat Processors Association, said it was up to individual bacon producers to decide whether to use nitrites or not.
“While nitrites play an important role in food safety, the final decision on the amount used in different curing recipes does not rest with the processors, but with the owners of the product brands. Competing brands commission their own recipes, which can be quite varied.
“Processors have done important and ongoing work to reduce nitrites in cured pork products. Our producers, for several years, have been implementing new methods to reduce nitrite use as much as possible without endangering public health.”
