LOS ANGELES – An anti-meat nonprofit is suing Los Angeles schools in an effort to ban processed meats served in the nation’s second-largest school district.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine filed a lawsuit in San Diego County in an effort to force both the Poway and Los Angeles school districts, as well as the state education department, to stop schools from serving bacon, hot dogs, sausage and other processed meats because of an alleged “recognized association between processed meats … and developing cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease,” KPCC reports.

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The lawsuit, backed by one Los Angeles teacher and two Poway parents, alleges current lunch menus with meats like turkey pastrami, turkey hot dogs, beef sausage and turkey chorizos violate the California Education Code requirements for the “highest quality” foods of the “greatest nutritional value possible.”

“The San Diego lawsuit cites a 2015 report by a World Health Organization research group … (that) concluded that eating the equivalent of one hot dog a day slightly increased the risk of colorectal cancer,” the Associated Press reports.

KPCC notes that the Washington, D.C.-based Physicians Committee is an aggressive advocate for vegetarian and vegan diets that demanded Amtrak eliminate processed meats from menus last month.

The group’s spokeswoman, Laura Anderson, told the news site the Committee targeted L.A. and Poway school districts in the lawsuit because “we looked at menus throughout the state and found these menus to be particularly full of process meat.”

“Additionally, we had residents in these districts reach out to us and ask for our help in improving the meals served in their local schools,” she alleged.

“As parents, we want what’s best for our kids,” complaining parent Tracy Childs said in a prepared statement sent out by the Physicians Committee. “Providing healthy school meals is a no-brainer. Not only do healthful foods help students learn and focus in the classroom today, but they can protect our children’s future health.”

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Childs, a vegan, does not have any children in the school district, but teaches health education classes using the Physicians Committee’s materials. She told the San Diego Union-Tribune she believes schools are “breaking the law because it states that schools should be serving the best foods possible, and that is not processed meats,” though she does not “expect that the school district would go meat-free anytime soon.”

The North American Meat Institute contends the lawsuit’s nutritional claims are bogus.

“We stand by the nutritional benefits that meat – both fresh and processed – provide for growing children,” spokeswoman Janet Riley told KPCC, pointing out that meat provides an excellent source of iron, zinc, and vitamin B12.

Physicians Committee founder and president Neal Barnard admitted to the Union-Tribune that the group’s ultimate goal is to ban all processed meats in schools, not to simply ensure that students have options that don’t include it.

“Simply providing the foods sends the message that processed meats are healthful and part of a nutritious diet, which is clearly at variance with scientific fact,” he said.

Otis Brawley, chief medical officer with the American Cancer Society, told the news site that scientific evidence exists that processed meats can cause cancer, and noted that it’s listed as a Group One carcinogen alongside cigarettes and asbestos by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

Yet despite the alleged health concerns, Brawley said the ACS does not recommend that people totally eliminate processed meats from their diets.