You might want to think again about eating that hot dog, the World Health Organization announced today that eating processed meat including sausages and ham causes cancer and has now classified processed meat in the same category as smoking and asbestos.

“The WHO’s cancer research unit now classifies processed meat as ‘carcinogenic to humans’ based on evidence from hundreds of studies, and linked it specifically to colon, or colorectal, cancer.
The report outlined that simply eating 50 grams of processed meat each day — the equivalent of two slices of ham — can increase the risk of such cancer by 18%. However, the authors say the risks are relatively small to begin with,” CNN reports.

WHO has defined processed meat as, “any type of meat that is salted, cured or smoked to enhance its flavor or preserve it.” Processed meat generally contains pork or beef, but may also contain poultry.

While the processed meat is now being classified in the same category as smoking and asbestos because of its certainty of a link with cancer, this does not mean these things are were equally dangerous.

It looks like those people who have been preaching “No pork on my fork” have been right all along.