Paris (AFP)

The NGO Foodwatch, the application Yuka and the League against cancer announced Wednesday the launch of a petition to request the ban of nitrite salts in the diet because of their role in the development of certain digestive cancers .

"We must simply prohibit their addition to our foodstuffs" because "when they are ingested, they can lead to the formation of carcinogenic compounds in our stomachs: nitrosamines", say the three organizations, who address this petition to the Minister of Health. Health, Agnès Buzyn.

"It is the responsibility of the public authorities to strengthen the rules, by prohibiting all additives recognized as dangerous," argues Camille Dorioz, of Foodwatch, in a statement.

The World Health Organization's Cancer Research Center (CIR) ranked these substances in 2010 as "probable carcinogens" in humans, "when ingested under conditions allowing endogenous nitrosation", that is, their transformation into molecules such as nitrosamines within the body.

The presence of these additives in industrial processed meats also led CIR to classify processed meat as a proven carcinogen in 2015, estimating that consumption of 50 grams per day of this type of food increased the risk of colorectal cancer by 18%, recall Foodwatch, Yuka and the League Against Cancer.

This ranking is not unanimous in the scientific community.

Nitrites and nitrates, sometimes indicated on the label under the codes E249, E250, E251 and E252, are mainly used in sausages (ham, sausages, pâtés, etc.), which they facilitate the preservation while giving it its color pink.

While their use is more and more disputed in recent years, the manufacturers assure that it is very difficult to do without it. They also argue that nitrates prevent the formation of microbes responsible for serious intoxication, such as botulism.

Moreover, "nitrites are authorized by the regulations and recommended by the scientific community for their major role in the safety of the majority of sausage products," said Wednesday in a statement the French federation of industrial delicatessens (FICT) .

Moreover, "the meat products are at the origin on average only 11% of the nitrites present during the digestion, the rest coming from other sources (plants and drinking water)", adds the FICT.

But for the three organizations behind the petition, the recent boom in the "nitrite-free" charcuterie market is "proof that manufacturers know how to do it when they want it".

On October 24, the National Assembly rejected an amendment tabled by MP MoDem Richard Ramos, who proposed to introduce a tax of 0.10 eurocents per kilogram on delicatessen products containing nitro additives.

Health Minister Agnès Buzyn felt that the dangerousness of these substances was not yet scientifically substantiated.

"For the European Food Safety Agency, there is no association between nitrate ingestion and the occurrence of most cancers.The adverse effect would be due to the conversion of nitrates to nitrite, but this conversion in the human organism is very variable and insufficiently documented, "she explained, evoking" ongoing work on this subject at ANSES "(health security).

© 2019 AFP