Food experts hail new kind of bacon

Food experts have welcomed a major breakthrough in the British fry-up after scientists developed a new technique to reduce the risk of bacon giving you cancer.

The new bacon will be made without using nitrites – a key ingredient in meat processing, which gives the product its flavour, texture and smell but poses a cancer risk.

It will be the first nitrite-free bacon to be sold in the UK and paves the way for other types of processed meats to be produced in a similar way – using the newly-created mix of natural Mediterranean fruit and spice extracts in place of the nitrite chemicals normally used as preservatives.

The Northern Irish company behind the bacon, Finnebrogue, says the bacon – which i can report tastes just as nice a traditional rashers, while being a little bit more expensive – represents the “biggest breakthrough to the British breakfast for a generation”.

Experts are also optimistic about the new bacon, which will be available in supermarkets such as Waitrose, Sainsburys and Morrisons, from January.

Professor Chris Elliott, who ran the Government’s investigation into the 2013 horsemeat scandal, said it was “a very welcome development”.

“Finnebrogue have used a combination of innovation and natural fruit and spice extracts to come up with a bacon that is made without the need for added nitrites,” added Prof Elliott, who now chairs the Institute for Global Food Security at Queen’s University Belfast.

To read the i newspaper’s full report about the launch of naked bacon, click here.