Consuming preservatives commonly found in industrially processed foods and beverages like deli meat and breakfast cereal is associated with an increased risk of cancer, according to a new study.

Anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Agriculture Secretary Brook Rollins unveiled the delayed 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines for America Wednesday, which is already drawing criticism for its ties to the meat and dairy industry.

Companies like Primal Pastures and Force of Nature Meats are selling organ meat to consumers, marketing it as "primal" and "ancestral" to appeal to the health-conscious crowd. Sales of beef offal have jumped 49% since 2020,

Over the last 12 months, Beyond Meat ( BYND +2.46%) stock has cratered by around 77%. With a market cap of $400 million and a recent share price of just $0.77, it is firmly in penny stock territory -- a far cry from its peak of around $235 reached in 2019.

Make no misteak — this is an unsavory obsession. Florida tattoo shop owner Wendy Marshall is so fond of raw meat that she scarfs 2 pounds of it daily. Ground chuck, cold cuts, whole roasts, porterhouses, the bloodier the better — Marshall devours it all.

The new recommendations, released Wednesday by the US Department of Health and Human Services and the US Department of Agriculture, are focused on health, but they also have implications for the climate. Beef is responsible for 20 times more greenhouse gas emissions per gram of protein than beans, peas and lentils.

The stock still has high short interest. The business continues to struggle. Shares of Beyond Meat (NASDAQ: BYND) were moving higher this week as a meme-stock rally seemed to return in the stock, with traders calling for a short squeeze.

“While it’s relatively easy to grow animal cells for mass food production you need to be able to grow them on something cheap, edible and that preferably provides a structure that resembles real meat,” study co-author and UCL medical researcher Richard Day explained in a statement.