YALE, MI — A national nonprofit health advocacy group is again targeting the Yale Bologna Festival, calling on city officials to restrict attendance to adults and warning festivalgoers about the health risks of processed meat.
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), which says it represents 17,000 physicians, sent a July 22 letter to Yale officials requesting the city prohibit anyone under 18 from attending this weekend’s festival, require disclosures about the risks of processed meat and encourage healthier alternatives, including plant-based bologna.
The organization is also sponsoring a mobile billboard that will circulate around Yale during the festival Saturday promoting its message about processed meat.
In a news release, Stephanie McBurnett, a registered dietitian with PCRM, said, “A food known to cause cancer should not be promoted to children whose dietary habits are still being formed.”
The campaign marks the latest effort by PCRM to change the festival. In 2023, the organization urged organizers to rename it the “Yale Phony Bologna Festival,” serve plant-based alternatives and asked the St. Clair County Health Department to deny permits to vendors selling processed meat.
At the time, the Health Department said it had no legal authority to deny permits based on the type of food being served.
Nancy Roy, a fifth-generation owner of C. Roy Inc., told the Times Herald the family-owned company stands behind its product.
“Our bologna is made strictly out of beef, very, very little pork,” Roy said.
Roy said the company is federally inspected and follows U.S. Department of Agriculture requirements throughout production.
“We are USDA inspected,” she said. “We do sampling on every animal that is coming through our building … As many years as we’ve been here, we’ve never had a positive E. coli, and we test every animal that comes through.”
Roy said the festival means far more to the company than simply selling bologna.
“It means it’s very heartwarming for us to think that the city and the people have decided they want us as their bologna festival,” she said. “It just means great to us to see people all get together and help support us and be supportive of our town.”
The Yale Bologna Festival has been held annually since 1989, and Roy said her family has participated every year. The Roy family has produced Yale Bologna for more than a century and is now in its fifth generation of ownership.
The Times Herald contacted the City of Yale and the Yale Bologna Festival seeking comment but did not receive responses before publication. The festival runs July 31 through Aug. 2.
Contact reporter Andy Jeffrey at ajeffrey@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: Health group seeks age limits at Yale Bologna event
Reporting by Andy Jeffrey, Port Huron Times Herald / Port Huron Times Herald
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By Andy Jeffrey, Port Huron Times Herald | USA TODAY Network
