Cancer warning over meat meets with scepticism

Dubai: It’s the worst possible news. Globally, meat lovers haven’t minced their words — and say the World Health Organisation and its cancer research body have a bone to pick with lovers of meat.

Suggestions that meat may cause cancer are a case of doctors spoiling the party; in South Africa, where cooking it on an open fire is among the rare pastimes shared by blacks and whites alike, it is an assault on a way of life.

In Australia, Agriculture minister Barnaby Joyce said Aussies should not be concerned by the WHO research.

“If you got everything that the WHO said were carcinogenic and took it out of your daily requirements, well, you are kind of heading back to a cave,” he told ABC radio.

And Italy, the home of Parma ham, is urging consumers not to get into a prosciutto panic after a warning that processed meat can cause cancer.

Italian food and farming groups responded indignantly to the WHO report that put cured meats, such as ham, sausage and salami, together with asbestos and tobacco on a list of carcinogens.

“No to meat terrorism, the Italian stuff is the healthiest,” agricultural association Coldiretti said in a statement, crediting the country’s Mediterranian diet for one of the highest life expectancies in the world — 80 years for men and 85 for women.

WHO said each 50-gram portion of processed meat — usually beef or pork which has been transformed through processes like salting and smoking — increased the risk of colorectal cancer by 18 per cent.

Braai-mad South Africans said they would take the risk rather than turn their backs on their nation’s social centrepiece.

Afrikaans for barbecue, the open-air braai took root among Dutch settlers in the 1600s but over the next three centuries spread across South Africa’s many races as the way to eat and entertain with friends and family.

“It’s the one thing that all South Africans love to do, that binds them together — to sit around the fire and braai meat,” said Jan “Braai” Scallens, founder of a campaign create a National Braai Day.

“I highly doubt whether this research is going to make much of a difference to that,” he said.

Among those who do buy it, meat — and red meat in particular — is king.Such is the preference that many South Africans jokingly define a vegetarian as somebody who restricts themselves to chicken.

Bolivia’s health ministry, meanwhile, announced a novel idea to cheer up carnivores worried by the red meat warning: switch to llamas.

“We have very good meats like llama, with a low percentage of fat that are beneficial if consumed in moderation,” said Vicky Aguilar, the health ministry’s head of food and nutrition.

Indigenous Bolivians have eaten llama meat since pre-Columbian times, but in the past decade high-end restaurants have also begun serving it.

The meat is also high in protein and low in fat. But Aguilar’s message came with a warning: “Anything is bad for you in excess,” she said.