Resolution calls for ban of processed meats in school cafeterias

The bacon would have to go.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams has joined Bronx Councilmember Fernando Cabrera in introducing a New York City Council resolution that calls on the Department of Education (DOE) to ban processed meats from city school lunch offerings.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer, the cancer agency arm of the World Health Organization, classified processed meat in 2015 as a Group 1 carcinogen, which indicates that there is scientific evidence that processed meats can cause a multitude of diseases, including cancer. Bacon, ham, hot dogs and some deli meats would not be served in school cafeterias around the city if the DOE did ban processed meats.

Adams and Cabrera hope that the resolution will help children in the city become healthier.

“We cannot continue feeding our children substances that are scientifically proven to increase their chances of cancer later in life,” said Adams. “Hot dogs and ham sandwiches are in the same class of substances as cigarettes. We know that we would never give our children cigarettes to smoke, so there’s absolutely no reason why we should continue poisoning our children’s health with processed meats.”

Both Adams and Cabrera have plant-based diets, and the two other councilmembers who joined them in sponsoring the resolution, Brooklyn Councilmember Justin Brannan and Manhattan Councilmember Helen Rosenthal, are a vegetarian and have a plant-based diet respectively.