How Much Red & Processed Meat is Safe to Eat?

Bad news for bacon and hot dog lovers. Processed meat is back in the news - for all the wrong reasons. The World Health Organization (WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has reported yet again that consuming too much red and processed meat increases the risk of colorectal cancer.

Doubly worse news for hot dog lovers, as a separate report by Clear Food revealed that many so-called vegetarian 'dogs' contain meat and even - gulp - human DNA.

As many as 14.4 per cent of samples tested as "problematic" in that they contained substitutions, i.e. pork found in a chicken hot dog, or were affected by "hygienic issues."

If you aren't prepared to give up hot dogs forever, be sure to stick to quality brands. The Hot Dog Report provides a detailed list of the best brands in each category.

And although kids tend to love dogs, it's probably advisable to limit their consumption to BBQ and baseball season (sore point - sorry, Jays fans).

As for the IARC report, the link between processed meats like bacon, sausage, hot dogs and cold cuts is not new. But it's worth restating that too much of a good thing can be bad for you.

In this case, compounds like N-nitroso and heterocyclic amines (HCAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) found in red meats are potentially carcinogenic. Not to mention that many processed meats contain the preservatives nitrates and nitrites, which may also form carcinogenic compounds.

Of course it's all about moderation. Red meat has nutritional value as a major source of iron, zinc and vitamin B12, yet regularly gorging on 10 or 12 ounce steaks may be a thing of the past.

The IACR recommends keeping cooked red meat consumption to under 18 ounces per week, and avoiding processed meats altogether. To put that in perspective, just 50g of processed meat - less than two slices of bacon - could up your chance of developing colorectal cancer by 18 per cent.

So while vegetarians will be feeling vindicated by this news, for the rest of us it's a wellness wake up call. My carnivorous husband will have to make do with less meat in his diet. He's seriously like Fred Flintstone in his love of steak and all things beefy. But that will have to change - for his own good.