Even if families don’t sit down to eat together as frequently as before, millions of Britons will nonetheless have got a share this weekend of one of that nation’s great traditions: the Sunday roast. (1)_____ a cold winter’s day, few culinary pleasures can (2)_____ it. Yet as we report now, the food police are determined that this (3)_____ should be rendered yet another guilty pleasure (4)_____ to damage our health.
The Food Standards Authority (FSA) has (5)_____ a public warning about the risks of a compound called acrylamide that forms in some foods cooked (6)_____ high temperatures. This means that people should (7)_____ crisping their roast potatoes, reject thin-crust pizzas and only (8)_____ toast their bread. But where is the evidence to support such alarmist advice? (9)_____ studies have shown that acrylamide can cause neurological damage in mice, there is no (10)_____ evidence that it causes cancer in humans.
Scientists say the compound is (11)_____ to cause cancer but have no hard scientific proof. (12)_____ the precautionary principle, it could be argued that it is (13)_____ to follow the FSA advice. (14)_____, it was rumoured that smoking caused cancer for years before the evidence was found to prove a (15)_____.
Doubtless a piece of boiled beef can always be (16)_____ up on Sunday alongside some steamed vegetables, without the Yorkshire pudding and no wine. But would life be worth living? (17)_____, the FSA says it is not telling people to cut out roast foods (18)_____, but to reduce their lifetime intake. However, its (19)_____ risks coming across as being pushy and overprotective. Constant health scares just (20)_____ with no one listening.
