Are ham sausages and lunch meat really as bad as they say?

Recently, a nostalgic food on the Internet has become an "internet celebrity", that is, the sausage fried by a small vendor who came to set up a stall at the school gate when he was a child. Many people said that they like to eat "starch intestines", which was the taste of childhood, and to "the more starchy the better, but where there is a little meat do not like to eat", and even set off a "copy starch intestine" original video boom on the well-known video website B station. Everyone likes the soft and tender taste of "starch sausage", but in fact, the implication is that ham sausage is "junk food".

Many people have been educated by their parents since they were young: ham sausages, lunch meat are all starch, there are many additives, are junk food, can not eat ah! Are lunch meat and ham sausages really as bad as everyone says?

Ham sausage, lunch meat are starch?

Meat is the main raw material

According to the provisions of China's national standard, ham sausage is a meat enema product made of fresh or frozen livestock meat, poultry meat and fish meat as the main raw material, which is salted, stirred, chopped (or emulsified), poured into plastic casings, and sterilized by high temperature. Luncheon meat is a kind of canned compressed minced meat, usually made of pork as raw material, according to a certain proportion of starch and spices and other processing.

From the standard requirements, it can be clearly seen that ham sausage and lunch meat still belong to meat products, and the main raw material is still meat. However, ham sausages can use other meats, while lunch meat can only use pork.

Many people say that they now see lunch meat with chicken. This is actually normal. According to the latest international standards, lunch meat can indeed be used with pork and poultry.

Lunch meat is an imported word. In fact, China calls lunch meat "canned pork paste" to manage. Therefore, if chicken is added, it cannot be classified according to the concept of traditional lunch meat. But companies can also make other products in the form of filing, such as "chicken lunch meat" (just assume, do not know what it will be called). It's just that the name is different, it's easy to manage, and it doesn't affect eating.

Both ham sausage and lunch meat have some starch in them, which is related to the processing process. Adding an appropriate amount of starch can make the ham sausage and lunch meat taste better, and the combination of starch and meat and water will make the ham sausage and lunch meat have better water retention, and the taste will be more tender. So, how much starch is in ham sausage and lunch meat? According to China's national standard, the protein content in ham intestines is not less than 10%, and the amount of starch is not more than 10%; and the amount of meat in the canned canned lunch meat and ham lunch meat shall not be less than 80%, and the amount of starch shall not exceed 7%.

According to the national standard, the starch of ham sausage is not more than 10% at most. Some intestines with ham sausages are not really "ham sausages" according to the national standard, but "cooked meat products", and the starch content is higher than that of ham sausages, but the meat > starch.

The ingredient list of the back label of prepackaged food is arranged according to the proportion of additions from high to low. Several "starch sausages" that everyone on the Internet respects, the first place in the ingredient list is meat (usually chicken), and starch is ranked behind the meat. Therefore, even if it is a "starch intestine", it is also a meat > starch, and it can be said that it is difficult to realize the dream of "not eating any meat at all".

As for what some netizens said, "the more powdery the ham intestine, the higher the starch content", it is also unreliable. If it is livestock meat, more nitrite, more meat, will be red; in addition, the color is also easy to change through pigment. Therefore, the starch content cannot be judged from the color of the ham intestine.

More additives? Are they all preservatives?

The national standard has strict limits on the amount of nitrite

In addition to starch, when it comes to lunch meat and ham sausage, many people will also feel that "there are many preservatives and no nutrition".

Theoretically, ham sausages can be made with meat and salt, but in actual production, in order to achieve the best taste, cost, and safety, some food additives and other ingredients, such as preservatives, edible gums, and flavors and fragrances, are also used.

Considering the taste, cost and other factors, ham sausages will be made with appropriate additives.

Among them, the most worrying are preservatives, especially nitrites. In fact, the requirements for nitrite in China's meat food standards are very strict (≤ 30mg/kg), and cannot be added casually.

Moreover, the benefits of using nitrite are also much greater than the risks of that point, because nitrite can inhibit the growth of Botulinum toxin and prevent the production of botulinum toxin. You know, once botulinum toxin is produced in ham and lunch meat, it is fatal.

Therefore, as long as it is a qualified product of a regular manufacturer, there is no need to worry about safety. We have repeatedly stressed that everyone who buys something must be a qualified product of a regular manufacturer! Don't buy small workshops and products with unknown channels, safety cannot be guaranteed (it is not easy to defend rights if something goes wrong).

"There is no junk food, only garbage eating"

Compared with "starchy intestines", you should eat less fried foods

From the perspective of nutrition, food itself is not "garbage" and "health", nutrition science still emphasizes that "there is no junk food, only garbage eating". Whether a person eats nutritiously and healthily depends on whether the food combination is reasonable.

Moreover, the talk of junk food is not scientific. The so-called "World Health Organization (WHO) publishes the world's top ten junk food list" circulating on the Internet is not true, and WHO itself has debunked rumors and has never published the list of the worst food or junk food.

The value of food is to be able to meet the nutritional needs of the human body. Any kind of food, as long as it can provide certain nutrients for the human body, without attaching toxic and harmful ingredients, is a valuable food. Ham sausage and lunch meat are rich in protein, fat or carbohydrates, which are also the nutrients that the human body needs!

As a kind of meat product, lunch meat and ham sausage can provide us with rich high-quality protein, but also a lot of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients, not without nutrition. And they are only eaten occasionally to accompany meals or when traveling, they can be a good source of protein.

In addition, ham sausages and lunch meat are also easy to preserve and eat, and they can play a great advantage for people in areas with backward logistics, traveling far, and in floods, earthquakes and other disasters.

Of course, processed meat products such as ham sausages and lunch meat are not conducive to health if they eat too much.

It also needs to be reminded that many people now in order to reproduce the "roadside stall grilled sausage", the main way of making is to fry the ham sausage, compared to the "starch sausage", eat less fried food is more important to pay attention to.

In general, although ham sausages and lunch meat are not junk food and can be used as part of a reasonable diet, everyone should not eat them without restraint with an open stomach. Usually, we still have to try to diversify food according to the "balanced diet pagoda", eat some of each food, and do not eat much of each food, which can ensure the health needs.

Text/Nguyen Quang Feng

(Director, Science and Technology Department, Food and Nutrition Information Exchange Center)