Campaign aims to ban processed meats from school lunch menus

A national cancer prevention nonprofit is using an in-your-face TV commercial to ask the Philadelphia School District to ban hot dogs and other processed meats from its cafeterias.

In a spot that launched on four local stations yesterday, the Cancer Project warns that processed meats can lead to an increased risk of cancer.

Citing a report by the American Institute for Cancer Research and the World Cancer Research Fund, the group says that eating hot dogs, sausage patties and similar foods increases a person's risk of colorectal cancer by 21 percent for every 50 grams eaten daily.

Fifty grams is the size of one hot dog.

"No amount of processed meat is considered safe to eat," according to the group.

School district officials strongly defended the foods they feed 167,000 children, pointing to increased healthy options and fewer hot dogs.

"We're not going to get rid of processed foods," said Vincent Thompson, a spokesman. "A lot of what we get comes to us from the federal food program, and we trust that they do their job, make sure everything is healthy and on the up-and-up."

The district employs a nutritionist and has offered children more fresh fruits and vegetables in recent years, he said.

"We want to assure citizens that our kids are getting healthy, wholesome meals," Thompson said. "We care about their food; these kids are our responsibility."

The Cancer Project evaluated menus in 38 school districts around the country and gave the Philadelphia district a failing grade for its offerings. About 15 percent of all district lunches contain processed meat, it concluded; every day, processed meats were included in all of the regular breakfast menus.

The commercial launched yesterday in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Chicago - all failing districts according to the group.

The spot makes for provocative watching: cherubic schoolchildren, munching cafeteria hot dogs and glistening pepperoni pizza, calmly talking about dying.

"I thought I'd live forever," one boy says in the ad. "I was dumbfounded when the doctor told me I have late-stage colon cancer."

Jennifer Reilly, senior nutritionist for the Cancer Project, said the point of the ad was not to alarm.

"We just want to teach parents and school food services directors about the importance of healthy choices," Reilly said.

The message draws on the latest research. The American Cancer Society says that people who eat "large amounts of red or processed meat over a long period" can raise their risk of colorectal cancer.

But, the same group also says that obesity and lack of exercise put people at a higher risk for colon cancer.

Or, as Paul Lyons, professor of family medicine at Temple University School of Medicine, put it: "There are lots of reasons not to give your children large quantities of processed meats - cancer is one, but there are better ones, like high calories, high sodium, and high fat."

Such foods in moderation, Lyons said, should be OK.

"If your child eats hot dogs once in a while, I don't think that you need to worry that they'll get cancer," he said.

District officials said they have gradually decreased the amount of processed meats in their meals. Hot dogs are typically offered just once a month, Thompson said, and that pepperoni pizza on the menu? It's actually turkey-topped.

David Adler, spokesman for the Food Trust, a local nonprofit that worked with the district to eliminate soda sales in city schools, said the district has been adding healthy food choices to the school lunch menu. He declined to comment specifically on the call to ban processed meats.

Still, Ana Negron, a Chester County physician and member of the Cancer Project Advisory Board, is strongly behind her group's push, and says that students should be "nourished, not just fed."

"We have stacked up health risks by increasing the volume and the frequency of processed foods," Negron said. "There are alternatives. There are schools across the nation that are doing quite well."

Margie Clapper, director of chemoprevention research at the Fox Chase Cancer Center, studies how processed meats affect some animals.

Based on her team's work, "processed meats appear to have carcinogenic properties or agents that can indeed cause cancer. It's a real issue," Clapper said.

At least one camp dismisses the Cancer Project's study altogether.

In a statement, Randy Huffman, director of the American Meat Institute, called the campaign "fearmongering at its worst" and declared that "processed meats are safe and nutritious."

Moderation is key, the group says.

"Processed meats do play an important role in a balanced diet that includes fruits, vegetables, grains and dairy products," Huffman said.