CSPI Petitions USDA To Require New Warning Labels On Processed Meat

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) on Thursday petitioned the USDA to require labels on packages of processed meat and poultry that would warn consumers that eating those products is associated with colorectal cancer.In its petition CSPI cites findings of the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), “which concluded in 2015 that processed meat is ‘carcinogenic to humans.’” IARC’s conclusions have come under heavy criticism, and even WHO admitted to “shortcomings” with IARC’s classifications that fostered misinterpretations.Meat industry lobbyists were quick to refute CSPI’s petition as being based on IARC’s tenuous findings and failing to account for numerous studies that find no relationships between meat and colon cancer and tout the benefits of balanced diets including meat.The petition, said the North American Meat Institute, “is the most recent example of the scare tactics that have earned [CSPI] the nickname ‘the food police.’”