Bacon firm creates the world’s first ever pigs in blankets made without cancer-causing nitrites – launches at Waitrose

A food firm has created the world’s first pigs in blankets free of cancer-causing nitrites – and British shoppers will try them before anyone else. The Christmas snacks, made up of chipolata sausages and bacon, have been secretly in production since April. But new technology has let makers Finnebrogue Artisan produce them without any nitrites or artificial additive. The system no longer uses the carcinogenic chemicals traditionally used to cure the meat.

It will come as a boost for consumers worried about their health following the challenges of the Coronavirus pandemic. The World Health Organisation have made a direct link between nitrites in processed meats and the development of colorectal cancer.

World’s first pigs in blankets free of cancer-causing nitrites

‘We hope our Naked Pigs in Blankets will bring a little extra cheer to lunches up and down the nation this Christmas.’

Nitrates on their own are generally safe, but it is when they are turned into nitrites that they become more dangerous. As well as the WHO, researchers from Queen’s University Belfast have also established a ‘strongest link yet’ between nitrates in processed meat products and cancer risk And Professor Chris Elliott, the UK’s top food scientist, has welcomed the creation of safer nitrite-free bacon.

• Production of the new pigs in blankets – expected to retail for around £4.49 – started back in April.
• More than 800 staff worked through the coronavirus pandemic to deliver the snack in time for Christmas.
• The small snacks are a staple of Christmas dinner with a survey in 2017 carried out by musclefood voting them revellers’ favourite part of the meal.
• Over 40 per cent of people who took part said they were their best-loved bites, forcing turkey into second place with just 17 per cent of the poll.

By DAN SALES FOR MAILONLINE. PUBLISHED: 12:29, 24 November 2020 | UPDATED: 13:10, 24 November 2020