As international health experts prepare to publish a report on potential cancer risks linked to red and processed meat, industry groups are bracing for a damaging blow to consumer confidence.
The World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer gathered health experts in France this month to discuss available research on such meat, with a view to classifying them on its scale of cancer risks. The conclusions will be published on Monday.
The review has prompted lobbying efforts from meat industry representatives who fear a headline conclusion about a likely cancer risk could tarnish the image of certain types of meat, just as previous IARC recommendations did with diesel fumes and the common weedkiller glyphosate.