It is well known now that the nitrates in processed meats cause various cancers. The World Health Organization has classified them as a carcinogen. Many people are aware that the nitrites that processors began to add as a replacement for nitrates are converted into nitrates by the body and so are equally to be avoided.
You might think this would give processors pause, but you'd be wrong. Why change their cancer causing product when they can just mislabel it instead! Seriously, people willingly work for these companies??
Most cold cuts, hot dogs, sausages, bacon, corned beef, meat based sauces and all canned meats are highly processed. Companies do not process meat for the fun of it, but to either extend its shelf life or change the taste and the main methods are smoking, curing, or adding salt or preservatives. Regardless, eating even small amounts of processed meats causes cancer and raises your risk of heart disease and diabetes. The culprits are mainly, if not entirely, the nitrates and nitrites added during processing.
Consumers tend to think that food labeling is highly regulated and generally accurate. They are wrong. The words "uncured" and "nitrate/nitrite free" on a label don't necessarily mean that the meat is either uncured or nitrate/nitrite free. That's right. Reading "Uncured" on a label does NOT mean the meat is uncured.
"The USDA allows these claims to appear on meat labels as long as it was cured using nitrites derived from celery or other vegetables," explains Charlotte Vallaeys, senior policy analyst for food and nutrition at Consumer Reports. Apparently since the nitrites are "natural" they don't count, even though your body cannot tell the difference.
Consumer Report's testing of uncured and nitrate/nitrite free deli meats last year found nitrite levels indistinguishable from those found in meats cured with synthetic nitrites. So if your uncured, nitrate/nitrite free meat lists celery or celery salt among its ingredients (only in America could meat have ingredients) then it is neither uncured nor nitrate/nitrite free. And its all perfectly legal.
"Our advice is to eat very little, if any, processed meat," Vallaeys says.
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