Schools should stop serving sausage rolls and ham sandwiches due to their “concerning” link with bowel cancer, a report has warned.
The Food Foundation charity said schools should axe processed meat after revealing over a third (36 per cent) of meat eaten by children in the UK is processed.
Ham is the most common meat used in school lunches, followed by sausages and sausage rolls at number five, according to the report.
“The current regulations for schools to serve meat three days a week should be relaxed,” the report, based on NHS diet surveys, warned.
“Guidance should recommend removing or limiting the amount of processed meat being served to schoolchildren.”
Processed meat is meat that has been preserved by smoking, curing, salting or adding preservatives. This includes sausages, bacon and ham, as well as chicken nuggets.
The charity said the amount of this kind of food eaten by Britain’s youngsters was “concerning” due to a greater risk of developing a number of chronic diseases including bowel cancer.
Rebecca Tobi, a manager at the foundation, told The Times: “The UK’s food system is rigged against parents trying to feed their families healthy foods, with processed meat an affordable and all too available option when eating out of the home.
“As a nation we are eating too much processed meat, despite a very strong body of evidence linking it to a host of chronic diseases.”
Early onset bowel cancer in those aged 25 to 49 is increasing globally, but England is among the countries with the biggest rise, averaging a 3.6 per cent increase every year, Cancer Research UK experts said.
Last year, Michelle Mitchell, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said: “A cancer diagnosis at any age has a huge impact on patients and their families.
“While it’s important to note that rates in younger adults are still very low compared to people over 50, we need to understand what’s causing this trend in younger people.”
Symptoms include changes in your poo, such as having softer poo, diarrhoea or constipation that is not usual for you, according to the NHS.
Blood in your poo, which may look red or black, as well as tummy pain, a lump in your tummy, bloating and losing weight without trying are symptoms.
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