Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 12 January 2023 to Question 117957 on Cancer: Meat, if he will take steps to review and update his Department's advice with reference to the evidence that has emerged since 2010.

Current Government dietary advice includes recommendations to reduce red and processed meat consumption due to potential increased risk of colorectal cancer. This advice is based on the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) report on Iron and Health (2010).

In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) evaluated the carcinogenicity of consuming red and processed meat. The IARC findings were broadly in line with those from SACN’s 2010 report and with current United Kingdom advice.

SACN keeps a watching brief on the evidence on nutrition and health. It undertakes ‘horizon scanning’ every two years which sets out the work programme, including revisiting existing recommendations, going forward. At the most recent horizon scan in 2022, SACN did not identify this issue as requiring further assessment. SACN are planning to undertake an assessment of iron bioavailability, which may impact on recommendations on meat consumption, when new evidence is available. The next SACN horizon scan session is due in 2024.