The Office for National Statistics has revealed new figures which show meat, dairy and eggs are driving inflation.

Foods such as bacon, sausages, ham, chicken and dairy now cost around 14% more than a year ago and drove the annual rate of inflation in July to 4.4%; economists predict that this could rise to 5% by the end of the year. The result is that the Bank of England is unlikely to reduce interest rates.

The ONS calculated that retail meat prices had risen 16% and milk, cheese and eggs by a staggering 19%. Other foods such as bread and cereals and vegetables have also risen, to a lesser extent.

So why particularly have the prices of animal produce risen more than any others? The answer is simple, animal produce is unsustainable, requiring far more resources than plant-based foods. First of all, whatever resources that are used to produce crops such as soy (land, water, fertilisers, herbicides, fuel for machinery, fuel for transporting the grain from around the world to feed the animals etc) have to be multiplied by around 8 since it takes around 8kg of grain to produce 1kg of meat. Then there is the water the animals need, energy for lighting and heating of barns, anti-biotics etc and finally all the water and energy used to slaughter the animals and the fuel required to transport the meat around the world whilst being refridgerated.

By choosing a plant-based diet, you can be both signicantly more sustainable and ethical.

Anyone catch the new ad for Iceland? They have an amazing new deal for all those lovers of summer barbecues - just 20p for a sausage, drumstick or burger!

Hard to believe isn’t it? The mere thought of it makes me want to vomit. Twenty-five pieces of meat for just £5. Or, even better, buy the 60 sausage pack for 8p per sausage!

How is it possible to produce such cheap meat? First of all, the animals will have been raised in the most horrendous conditions, crammed into a factory farm and forced to live the most miserable life imaginable. Secondly, those animals will have been fed cheap soy and grains, probably genetically engineered and probably from Latin America; thus contributing to the destruction of our last remaining forests. And thirdly, and you may want to skim this bit, the sausages for sure will contain huge amounts of saturated fat, mechanically recovered meat and if you’re lucky, pig jowls (including the pituitary glands where drugs and diseases are found). Sausages were, after all, invented to use the offcuts of animals.

And if you still don’t have a problem with inviting your friends and family around for a barbeque of this cheap disgusting ‘meat’, consider that that you are contributing to their early death.

Following an in depth study, the World Cancer Research Fund told us earlier this year that there really isn’t a safe level of consumption of processed meats. Professor Wiseman said: “We are more sure now than ever before that eating processed meat increases your risk of bowel cancer and this is why WCRF recommends that people avoid eating it. The evidence is that whether you are talking about bacon, ham or pastrami, the safest amount to eat is none at all. When you consider that eating 50g of processed meat a day can increase your risk of bowel cancer by about a fifth, it is clear that you can make a positive difference by cutting out as much as possible. We do recommend that people avoid it completely.”

So, if anyone invites you to a barbeque and you spot an Iceland bag, you seriously want to give some thought to whether you really are considered a friend, or whether perhaps there is an ulterior motive! Perhaps you weren’t forgiven for that little faux pas after all…

The World Cancer Research Fund advised today that the safest amount of processed meats, such as bacon and sausages, people should consume is none at all. Their research has shown a strong link between processed meats and bowel cancer.

Professor Martin Wiseman, Medical and Scientific Adviser for World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF), has warned people that if they eat 50g of processed meat a day then their bowel cancer risk is increased by 20 per cent.

WCRF advise that people avoid all processed meats.

There is also convincing evidence to show that red meat such as beef, lamb and pork cause bowel cancer which is the third most common type of cancer in the UK, with almost 100 new cases being diagnosed every day. Safest option - go veg!