NHS hospitals in England serve meat with chemicals feared to cause cancer

There is particular concern about nitrites, which are often found in bacon and ham and are used to give bacon its pink colour and also as a preservative. Photograph: Sidney de Almeida/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Scores of hospitals are giving patients meat cured with chemicals that scientists and food safety experts increasingly fear may cause cancer.

Sixty-one NHS trusts in England are serving meat in their hospitals that may contain nitrates or nitrites despite growing evidence internationally implicating them in the development of cancer.