Hacker News Reader

I take processed meat to mean deli meats, bacon, and cured ham. Additives are one of the things that make them damaging.

Is a filet mignon, ground beef, or chick thighs processed? Sure. But i don't think that is what we're talking about here.

View on HN

Fresh meat can be processed by injecting it with water + various salts to bulk up the weight/volume by up to 15%. Depending on the legislature, it could be legally still considered fresh meat in some countries. See plumping: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plumping

It's not just chickens, I've seen ground meat, and pork tenderloins in supermarkets with the same processed treatment.

Good point!

I thought pre-cook and/or treated meats meant processed in terms of the general consumer. Raw cuts of steak, pork loins and drumsticks isnt typically considered processed for the consumer. From what I know, you only call cut up raw meat "processed" if you handled the full carcass, like a butcher.

But like you said, it's the additives that we really think of as "processed". If you home make sausage with just ground meat and pork casing is that "processed" if you didnt add nitrates or edta? Technically yes, but that's where I think clear cut definitions need to be in place.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com