Meat
MeatThinkstock

Processed meat could soon be off the IDF's menu, Channel 2 reported Thursday, after the Defense Ministry asked its official caterer to examine the possibility of replacing the processed meat - including salami, pastrami, and hot dogs - served twice a week to soldiers. 

The interest in removing processed meat comes in the wake of a recent study by the World Health Organization that places the risk for consuming the products at the same level of danger as smoking.

The report by the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) said there was enough medical evidence at this point to link over-consumption of cured products – mostly from pork, but some from beef as well – with high levels of colon cancer.

In the past, an IDF source said, soldiers had received more processed meat, but currently, they get two meals a week based on those products, and three meals based on frozen meat, like beef stew or goulash that do not contain nitrates – and the army has been gradually reducing their use over the years.

“Our objective is to remove it from the menu altogether and replace it with 'real' meat, although this will depend on budget and other considerations,” the source told Channel 2. 

Beginning about eight years ago, the IDF stopped cooking its own meals on large bases, instead relying on Idit Caterers to do the preparation, with ovens in kitchen bases used solely to warm up food.

Kitchen staff still prepare meals on smaller bases in outlying areas, and cooks in those bases have undergone training to learn how to prepare healthier meals.