Whilst Lucie Morris-Marr, Walkley Award-winning investigative journalist, is a stage four bowel cancel survivor, primarily writes about the processed food made from pork, she also includes processed foods made from beef, other food and red meat.

These foods are found in the deli counters in your local supermarkets and independent delis, and include dried foods such as biltong and jerky, fast foods from the major international companies such as pizzas, sandwiches, burgers and in many restaurants and hospitals.

Included are eye-popping verified information and statistics on how cancers such as bowel, breast, prostate, stomach, pancreatic, ovarian, lung, kidney, liver,  other cancers and diseases such as arthritis have increased and why this is so prevalent in Australia and many other countries.

After a huge amount of research into an industry that supplies these everyday foods, the results are explained in an easy to read and an open friendly style.

Morris-Marr informs how foods that are deeply embedded traditions in some countries such as the charcuterie in France, chorizo and hams in Spain and Portugal, others from the United Kingdom, The Americas, Europe with  pickled meats, dried meats, meat stick snacks, many sausages all contain several ingredients that are the cause of these diseases. Yes, that full English / Scottish / Irish breakfast is doing you harm, so is the lunchtime toastie or sandwich - depending on the ingredients, so is the food in most children's school lunch boxes or when they go to friends and have take away food.

Another interesting aspect mentioned is how the animals are treated and what they are fed, all having an impact on what we consume. Plus the effects on people who work in abattoir and meat processing plants.

Not content with finding out about the ingredients for knowing the cause of her bowel cancer, the author and her French counterpart, Professor Denis Corpet from the University of Toulouse, who saw first hand how his mother-in-law suffered and succumbed to bowel cancer, she gathered all her research to include in Processed. The statistics and pure numbers of cancer diagnoses each year are astounding, with breast cancer topping the list in Australia. But it is not just the diagnosis, it is the often brutal treatment to try and hopefully  overcome these diseases that will make you wonder about what you are eating and if it is worth the risks.

The financial gain for all these producers is phenomenal and the author wrote to the heads of these organisations, including supermarkets and manufacturers both locally and internationally with her information for their responses. The emails and letters make very interesting reading...

If you eat, you need to read this book.

The Author

Lucie Morris-Marr is a Walkley Award-winning investigative journalist, and she was twice highly commended as Young Journalist of the Year at the British Press Awards. After moving to Australia as Associate Editor of Marie Claire, she went on to report for the Herald Sun and The New Daily. She is the author of Fallen: The inside story of the secret trial and conviction of Cardinal George Pell. She is also a bowel cancer advocate and patient mentor. She lives in Melbourne with her family.