There have been 38 cases of bakers contracting cancer from the asbestos contained in old ovens since 2000, according to the institute of asbestos victims IAS.

The figure, to be included on Tuesday evening in tv programme Zembla, follows Zembla’s claims in last week’s programme that the Bakkersland bakery group had problems with asbestos in three of its factories over the past two years and had to recall a consignment of bread.

Eugene Scholten, chief executive of Bakkersland, told RTL news last week there had never been direct contact between bread and the asbestos used as insulation in the company’s ovens.

However, the IAS now says 38 bakers have told them they contracted cancer from asbestos. Zembla says this is as a result of working with old ovens in which asbestos is used as insulation.

Gert van der Laan, clinical specialist at the Netherlands centre for industrial sickness AMC, tells Tuesday’s Zembla that the figure shows working with old ovens is dangerous. ‘The bakers who contacted the IAS since 2000 have been working with asbestos for decades,’ he tells the programme.