SINGAPORE - The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) said on Wednesday that it is aware of a study conducted by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) warning that cancer-causing chemical compounds had been detected in a range of everyday foods.

SFA said it is “closely monitoring the findings”, after the EFSA in March said the level of exposure that people of all age groups across the European Union (EU) have to nitrosamines in food raises a health concern.

The EFSA study detected these compounds in foods including cured meat, processed fish, cocoa, beer and other alcoholic drinks. It found meat to be the “most important food group” contributing to nitrosamine exposure.

In response to queries from The Straits Times, SFA said: “The levels of nitrosamine consumed by an average person is unlikely to pose a health risk if processed meat such as sausages are consumed in moderation.”

SFA has existing regulatory limits for nitrates and nitrites allowed in meat products to safeguard consumers.

“There is no need for consumers with a balanced and varied diet to be unduly worried about these substances,” it said.

The agency said nitrosamines are formed when certain nitrogen-containing substances such as nitrates and nitrites are added to meat, noting that such substances are commonly added to cured meat such as bacon and sausages for flavouring and to prevent the growth of bacteria.

Nitrosamines can also form in uncooked cured meat such as raw ham and salami, said SFA.

In its warning in March, EFSA admitted that there were “knowledge gaps” about the presence of nitrosamines in some food groups.

The research also deployed “a worst-case scenario”, said Dr Dieter Schrenk, chairman of the EFSA’s panel on contaminants in the food chain. It assumed that all nitrosamines detected in food had the potential to cause cancer as the most harmful form of the compound – “although that is unlikely”.