Cancer-causing compounds found in everyday food: EU agency

PARIS: Cancer-causing chemical compounds called nitrosamines have been detected in a range of everyday foods and could pose a health risk to consumers, the European Food Safety Agency warned on Tuesday.

The 10 nitrosamines – which are not intentionally added to food but which can form during its preparation and processing – are carcinogenic and also genotoxic, which means they may damage DNA, according to a new study conducted by the European Union agency.

"Our assessment concludes that for all age groups across the EU population, the level of exposure to nitrosamines in food raises a health concern," said Dieter Schrenk, chair of the EFSA's panel on contaminants in the food chain.