Swiss Hospitals Serve Carcinogenic Meat

According to menu plans, Swiss hospitals serve meat containing chemicals considered to be carcinogenic.

Editorial Team Wild beim Wild — 2 August 2023

Nitrates and Nitrites in Hospital Kitchens

The IG Wild beim Wild wishes to take action, also in the interest of those seeking medical care, particularly against the provision of meat containing nitrates or nitrites.

Certain meat products treated with nitrates or nitrites are being offered to sick patients. Nitrates and nitrite salts are added to meat, fish and cheese to preserve them and prevent the growth of Clostridium botulinum — the bacterium responsible for life-threatening botulism. They are also used in meat to keep it red, for example in bacon or ham, and to add flavour. In particular, nitrates are used to prevent certain types of cheese from bloating during fermentation.

According to the investigation, among the hospitals offering patients this health-damaging food are also children's hospitals. In some of these, the highly problematic game meat is also served. Countless studies point to this fact: Meat makes you sick!

Menu Plan

Hunted game is fundamentally carrion and therefore not actually permissible for sale or human consumption — least of all in a hospital.

The risk of contracting toxoplasmosis, trichinellosis, sarcocystosis, cysticercosis, taeniosis, echinococcosis or larval alariosis through game meat is significantly elevated, warns the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment.

Experts on toxic chemicals in food have been campaigning for years to have nitrites removed from meat production. This latest investigation by IG Wild beim Wild sheds a disturbing light on the risks to which vulnerable groups, including children, are exposed in our hospitals.

There is growing evidence that processed pork products such as bacon and ham cause colorectal cancer. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), nitrites are a probable cause of the disease.

These pork products are classified by the WHO as Group 1 carcinogens, meaning there is “sufficient evidence” that they cause cancer. Tobacco smoking, processed game meat and asbestos also fall into this category.

Spital Emmental: Wildfleisch für Patienten?

Calls for a ban on nitrites in food

The French government has already responded to concerns about nitrites by restricting the use of nitrites in the meat industry. In an open letter in Scotland last year, a group of doctors compared the dispensing of animal products to the distribution of cigarettes. There are growing calls for Switzerland to take similar steps and restrict the use of nitrites.

The Swiss government must follow the latest findings and ban nitrites in order to keep these carcinogenic chemicals out of our hospitals and out of our entire food system.
IG Wild beim Wild

Should plant-based food be served in hospitals?

Activists from IG Wild beim Wild have previously called for plant-based meals to be served in hospitals.

In this time of health and climate crisis, the imperative of the moment for patients in hospitals is to switch to vegan menus. Replacing meat, eggs and dairy products with vibrant vegan foods is essential if we are to protect the health of the population and the planet.

Serving unhealthy, meat-heavy meals in hospitals is an ethical dereliction of duty and can be compared to distributing cigarettes on the pulmonary ward.

Meat in the diet always contains a high proportion of toxins and makes one extremely susceptible to health disorders. There are good reasons why health insurance premiums rise every year.

Countless studies suggest that meat consumption leads to an increased risk of heart attack, high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol levels, but type 2 diabetes and many types of cancer are also associated with meat consumption.

From childhood, advertising and our social environment teach us that it is “normal” to kill animals and eat their flesh. Here we should remind ourselves that in earlier times it was also considered “normal” to oppress and exploit other human beings in slavery. Just because certain ways of thinking and acting were or are accepted by the broad majority as socially acceptable at a given point in history does not mean that they are right and should be continued.

Health is Wealth

Nutritional mistakes can be made with any diet!

The human body requires the following 5 basic nutrients for the renewal, maintenance and development of a healthy organism:

1. Protein (protein) or nitrogen-containing food, 2. Carbohydrates, 3. Fats, 4. Minerals, 5. Vitamins

In a meat-free diet, these basic nutrients are found in healthier proportions than in meat — for example in nuts, peas and beans. High proportions of carbohydrates are found, for example, in wheat, oats, rice and other grain crops and potatoes. Fats can be obtained from almost all protein-rich foods. Where the good vitamins and minerals are to be found is equally well known.

Prevention is better than cure. Food should be consumed from a medicinal perspective, in as natural a state as possible (organic).