Croatia pig farmers respond to meat cancer claims.
Croatia, especially Slavonia and Baranja, are “up in arms” after the news about research which has shown that sausages, ham and bacon can cause cancer and that they are considered to be carcinogenic. Goran Jančo, president of the Pig Farmers Association of Osijek-Baranja County, had this to say, reports Glas Slavonije on November 4, 2015:
“The consumer must know what he or she is buying, since the protection of consumer health is an absolute priority. However, as a producer of a large number of pigs and as someone who is starting to expand into processing of pork as well, I would like to ask the scientists who have participated in these studies the following question: which ingredients in particular in our Slavonian sausages are cancerous? Is it hot peppers, sweet peppers, garlic or salt? I can also demonstrate that studies have shown that peppers in certain amounts reduce the incidence of cancer, and the same goes for garlic, which is a natural antibiotic. Everything must be consumed within the permitted parameters, of course, including the salt as a nutritional additive, which is used with the goal of improving human health (prevention of goitre).”
“People should not overdo with anything. If you eat only cabbage and salad, that is not good either. If the diet consisted entirely of plants, I am sure even that would not be completely healthy. Basically, the additives which have been grown on our local fields are certainly more beneficial than harmful. As far as the pork is concerned, the important question is which pork samples have been used for analyses and tests. I still say that the Croatian pork is the best in the world.”
“My family farm produces 6,000 pigs a year. I do not think news like this will harm my production. Our consumers are educated people, they know that the core problem are harmful additives that prolong the life of meat. These are the nitrate and nitrite salts, various preservatives and so on. Croatian farmers and processors of traditional products do not use them in their recipes. I call also on the government to pay attention to imported meat with unclear expiry dates, because no one can control what happened with such meat. Also, I remember that thirty years ago they used to ‘bombard us’ with information that fat is bad for us and that we need to switch to oil, but now they say that fat is actually healthy.”
