A report by the World Health Organisation said processed meats are a major cause of cancer, putting bacon, ham and sausages right up there with asbestos, alcohol and tobacco on its list of carcinogens. The organisation's International Agency for Cancer Research said such meats belong in the category called "group 1 carcinogens", because of their links to bowel, pancreatic and prostate cancer.

The agency estimated that a 50-g portion of processed meat eaten daily could increase the risk of colorectal cancer by 18%. While the chances of developing cancer are relatively small, they increase with the amount of meat consumed, an official said.

The meat industry, however, rejected the comparison with cigarettes, and said avoiding red meat would not protect against the disease. The North American Meat Institute told The Guardian that defining red meat as a cancer hazard "defied common sense".

Earlier this year, a controversial IARC report had declared that the world’s most widely used weedkiller, glyphosate, was a possible carcinogen as well. The move led Monsanto, the company most dependent on glyphosate in its products, to express outrage at the assessment and accuse the agency of bias, reported the Financial Times.