{"id":259025,"date":"2025-07-12T13:25:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-12T13:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/259025\/"},"modified":"2025-07-12T13:25:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-12T13:25:10","slug":"richard-tice-sees-chance-for-a-brexit-bacon-bonanza-politics-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/259025\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard Tice sees chance for a ‘Brexit bacon bonanza’ | Politics | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Campaigners say Britain has the chance to deliver a \u201cBrexit<\/a> bacon<\/a> bonanza\u201d by going \u201cone better\u201d than the European Union<\/a> and banning nitrites from the nation\u2019s rashers. Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice<\/a> wants the UK to make the most of new food safety freedoms<\/a> and ditch nitrites from processed meats.<\/p>\n

Nitrites have traditionally been added to preserve meat and keep it pink. But the Coalition Against Nitrites says British bacon producers \u201cmake bacon that looks the same, tastes as good and is no more expensive than its competitors\u201d.<\/p>\n

There is longstanding concern that when cooked and eaten nitrites produce nitrosamines, with campaigners warning of the link to cancer. In October, lower legal limits will come into force in the EU.<\/p>\n

Mr Tice wants Britain to lead the way with a ban he says will boost both public health and the fortunes of pig farmers.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cNow that we\u2019ve left the EU, the UK has a golden opportunity to go one better than Brussels \u2013 and ban cancer-linked nitrites from processed meats entirely. This isn\u2019t just a public health no-brainer; it\u2019s also a win for British farmers and food producers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Tice said \u201csales of nitrite-free bacon are growing faster than the versions still laced with these carcinogens\u201d and claimed \u201cBritish shoppers are voting with their wallets for cleaner, safer food\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time Government caught up \u2014 and backed new innovation over outdated EU-era regulation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

James Cooper, deputy director of food policy at the Food Standards Association said: \u201cNitrates and nitrites are regulated as a food additive and have undergone a rigorous safety assessment prior to being authorised. The safety of food additives is kept under review.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Government acknowledges the link between eating too much red and processed meats and bowel cancer, recommending adults limit consumption of these products to 70g per day.<\/p>\n

Nitrates and nitrites are regulated according to EU legislation which has been kept in UK law despite leaving the bloc. Producers are required to use the lowest level required to achieve the desired result under the so-called \u201ctechnological function\u201d.<\/p>\n

The EU has reduced the maximum level of these additives to reduce exposure to nitrosamines which have been linked to colorectal cancer.<\/p>\n

A spokesman for the Coalition Against Nitrites commented: \u201cWe\u2019re delighted to be building a broad coalition of supporters, now including representatives from seven different political parties, who agree that carcinogenic chemicals have no place in our food. When bacon can be made without nitrites \u2014 without compromising taste, appearance or price \u2014 there\u2019s simply no justification for their continued use.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Campaigners say Britain has the chance to deliver a \u201cBrexit bacon bonanza\u201d by going \u201cone better\u201d than the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259026,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[802,5322,748,99370,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,99369,1093,386,8721,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-259025","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brexit","8":"tag-brexit","9":"tag-brexit-news","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-british-bacon","12":"tag-eu","13":"tag-europe","14":"tag-european","15":"tag-european-union","16":"tag-great-britain","17":"tag-nitrites","18":"tag-public-health","19":"tag-reform-uk","20":"tag-richard-tice","21":"tag-uk","22":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114840490644169326","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}