Pig OUT: Hotel chain bans bacon and sausages from its restaurants in favour of more fruit and vegetables

  • Scandinavia's Comfort hotels have replaced the meat with healthier items
  • Cereals and cheese which include palm oil have also been banned
  • There have been mixed reactions, with some customers becoming 'upset' 

By Chris Kitching for MailOnline

Published: 07:59 EST, 18 November 2015 | Updated: 12:06 EST, 20 November 2015

A Scandinavian hotel chain is taking the sizzle out of its breakfasts after banning bacon and sausages from its restaurants

Nordic Choice Hotels has left customers at its Comfort hotels angry or confused after replacing the traditional breakfast menu items with healthier ‘plant-based’ options.

Billionaire Petter Stordalen, the sole owner of the Oslo-based chain, reportedly made the move after he gave in to the influence of his wife, Gunhild, an animal rights activist and environmentalist.

Comfort hotels in Scandinavia have banned bacon from the menu in favour of more fruits and vegetables

Comfort hotels in Scandinavia have banned bacon from the menu in favour of more fruits and vegetables

‘This is a new breakfast concept for our Comfort hotels,’ Petter Stordalen told Norwegian website Hegnar.no, as quoted by The Local. ‘The focus on sustainability permeates what we do in Nordic Choice.’

Stordalen owns one of Scandinavia’s largest hotel chains, with brands including Clarion, Comfort and Quality under a franchise agreement with Choice Hotels International.

The processed meats have been struck from Comfort hotels after the menu was designed in collaboration with Gunhild Stordalen’s EAT Food Forum.

But it’s not just bacon and sausages that are getting the axe in favour of more fruits and vegetables.

In an effort to reduce deforestation, cereals and cheese which include palm oil as an ingredient are also off the menu, The Local reported.

For many travellers, their breakfast isn’t complete with bacon or sausages, so it’s no surprise that the hotel has received complaints about the change.

Cereals and cheese which include palm oil as an ingredient are also off the menu at Comfort hotels

Cereals and cheese which include palm oil as an ingredient are also off the menu at Comfort hotels

Ebba Kohl, who runs the Plectrum restaurant at Comfort Hotel Winn in Umea, Sweden, told the Västerbottens-Kuriren newspaper: ‘There are mixed reactions. Some are upset and some understanding.’

Kenneth Hultgren, a spokesman for Comfort hotels, told the newspaper that today’s hotel guests want ‘more dynamic products suited for an everyday life that is very much about health and sustainability.’

The move has been applauded by animal rights groups, and comes just weeks after the World Health Organisation declared that processed meats such as bacon and hot dogs raise the risk of colon and stomach cancer.

After analysing decades of research, it also declared that red meat is probably harmful, drawing anger from producers.

Dr Carrie Ruxton, from the Meat Advisory Panel, criticised the decision by Nordic Choice Hotels.

She said: 'This seems a very draconian step given that WHO didn't say we had to stop eating processed meats.

'In the UK, we only eat 17 grammes of processed meat daily on average so we can continue to enjoy the occasional bacon roll. Bacon is high in protein and contains B vitamins and zinc.'

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