Naked Bacon 'world first' for Northern Irish producer

The traditional breakfast fry-up is to become healthier following a scientific breakthrough by an innovation-focused Northern Ireland meat processor which has cut the cancer risk of bacon.

For the first time food scientists have managed to produce bacon that does not include nitrites from vegetables or curing agents. The new Naked branded bacon has been developed by Finnebrogue Artisan of Downpatrick, county Down and will be in supermarkets across the UK and Ireland during January.

The bacon is the first to be completely free from nitrites, preservatives, E numbers and all allergens.

The new Naked unsmoked bacon retails at £2.99 for a 200g pack and is the outcome of research by the company over five years.

As well as the nitrite free bacon, Finnebrogue will shortly launch ham and pork sausages also free from nitrites.

Finnebrogue, headed by founder and chairman Denis Lynn, has worked with Spanish chemists to produce the world's first nitrate-free Naked Bacon.

Mr Lynn, one of Northern Ireland's most innovative business leaders, says: "I've been all over the world to figure out a way to make bacon without nitrites - and up to now we'd never made a single rasher of bacon because we couldn't work out how to do it.

"Our Naked Bacon is not only safer than any other bacon on the market. it also tops the charts in blind taste tests."

Kirsty Adams of Marks and Spencer, which will be launching Naked Bacon on 10 January, adds: "We know that our customers care about their health and are increasingly looking for healthier options for themselves and their families.

"We have worked closely with Finnebrogue throughout their innovation on nitrite free bacon, to ensure our own brand recipe is a fantastic tasting bacon without compromise on flavour - as our customers would expect.

"We are very excited to be the first to launch an own brand with a back and streaky bacon, and will be looking to follow this up with cooked hams in the very near future."

Finnebrogue is a longstanding supplier of sausages and other meat products to M&S.

The purpose of adding nitrites is to give cured meat its characteristic pink colour, texture, some flavour and also to help as a preservative.

The new natural flavouring being used is produced from natural Mediterranean fruit and spice extracts, following ten years of research and development. And crucially, in independent blind taste tests, consumers said it was as good or better than traditionally cured meat.

The flavour is currently being used in continental style hams in the European Union, but this will be the first time the technology has been applied to British bacon and available to UK consumers.

The nitrite free bacon has been welcomed by Prof. Chris Elliott of the Institute of Global Food Security at Queen's University in Belfast, who says: "Many forms of processed foods have come under the spotlight over recent years for their unhealthy attributes.

"Processed red meat, in particular, has been a focal point," Prof Elliott, who ran the UK Government's investigation into the 2013 horsemeat scandal, says "Nitro containing compounds, used in the manufacture of traditional bacons, are known to cause the formation of chemicals that have negative health impacts.

"To have a bacon produced naturally that doesn't require such chemicals to be added or formed during processing is a very welcome development."

And Neil Parish MP, the chairman of the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, agrees: "Making bacon without nitrites - and reducing the risk in the famous full English breakfast - is a remarkable feat of food technology and a brilliant British success story.

"This is further evidence that the British food industry is going from strength to strength."

Every year Britons eat 159 million kg of bacon - worth almost £1 billion in retail sales.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) currently warns that bacon cured with nitrites is as dangerous as asbestos and smoking, because the chemicals produce carcinogenic nitrosamines when ingested.

They have estimated that around 34,000 bowel and colon cancer deaths each year are directly attributable to diets which are high in processed meat.

The WHO has also calculated that eating two rashers of nitrite-cured bacon per day increases the risk of contracting bowel cancer by 18 per cent.