Less pink than their neighbors on the shelves treated with E249, E250, E251 or E252 additives, nitrite-free products already occupy a prominent place in our supermarkets among hams, lardons, sausages and even sliced chicken breasts.
With each time prices on the rise.
“This is the proof that manufacturers know how to do;
they almost all offer alternatives without these dangerous additives ”, denounces Richard Ramos, the deputy (MoDem) of Loiret at the origin of the parliamentary report on the nitrated meats published this Wednesday.
As we indicated last month, it proposes to gradually ban these preservatives which give the pink color to the ham.
By 2023, in cured products (bacon, ham);
by 2025 in heat-treated products (andouilles, sausages).
Stricter standards during slaughter
Why ?
Because these conservatives are accused of causing disease.
"Nearly 4000 cases of colorectal and stomach cancer per year attributed to nitritated pork meats in France", calculates Axel Kahn, president of the League against cancer.
The WHO placed pigs on the list of “probable” carcinogens in 2015. “It is not a problem for producers to have an offer for the rich without risk to health and another for the poor, who can. to die!
»He denounces.
VIDEO. Should we stop eating pink ham?
Among the professionals of the delicatessen, we assure it, it is not a question of increasing the prices to transform the gray ham into a luxury product or reserved for the sores.
Simply to produce in good safety conditions without these preservatives used to avoid in particular the risks of botulism, “costs 10 to 15% more expensive”, calculates Bernard Vallat, the president of the French Federation of the industrial butchers caterers (FICT).
“For these nitrite-free recipes, you need a safer microbial environment that involves investments in filtering the air, for example.
The raw material
(Editor's note: thigh or shoulder)
used is also more expensive, because it must meet more stringent standards during slaughter or in cutting workshops, critical moments for contamination, ”lists the professional.
So we must pass on this increase.
Up to 60% more expensive
Camille Dorioz of the Foodwatch consumer association compared the prices of 40 products in four drives in the Dunkirk region (North) "with price increases of between + 10% and + 60% for nitrite-free products!"
A sign that prices are inflated to target part of the wealthy population, ”he said.
His NGO denounces the "double game" of industrialists.
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“Not at all, retorts Bernard Vallat.
We simply cannot ignore consumer demand for more naturalness, even if this demand is irrational.
The FICT disputes the dangerousness of these additives and recalls that Europe has already lowered the thresholds to 150 mg / kg to limit the repercussions on health.
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The argument of a higher manufacturing cost is "fallacious", says Richard Ramos, for whom it is a question of scaring consumers.
On the contrary, he wants to believe "that if the ban on nitrites passed through parliament, the increase in volumes would automatically lead to lower costs".
