Dive Brief:
- In October, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) is expected to release a report concerning red meat, and, as the meat industry fears, red meat's possible link to cancer.
- Since 2014, the potential link between red meat and cancer has been a "high priority," as the IARC cited studies that correlated red meat consumption with several different types of cancers, according to Quartz. That research is expected to come to a head with this upcoming report, and some figures in the meat industry are not feeling particularly confident about it.
- "It’s our 12-alarm fire, because if they determine that red and processed meat causes cancer—and I think that they will—that moniker will stick around for years," Betsy Booren, vice president for scientific affairs at the North American Meat Institute (NAMI), said at a recent conference, according toMeatingplace. "It could take decades and billions of dollars to change that."
Dive Insight:
红肉industry finds itself preparing to be in the same defensive position it's been in since February, when the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) Scientific Report was released, which also suggested that consumers includeless red meatin their daily diets.
It's unclear what the fate for red meat will be come this October, such as whether it might receive a 2B cancer-link rating or a 2A rating, asglyphosaterecently received from the WHO (1 is the highest cancer correlation). If red meat is indeed linked to cancer by the WHO, it's hard to tell exactly what might happen to meat producers and major manufacturers and how much, if any, damage control will need to be done to keep those companies' red meat segments afloat.
