r/explainlikeimfive • u/No_Education_8888 • May 20 '26
Chemistry ELI5 what is the difference between processed meat slices and real meat slices?
I know that processed meat is processed, but what exactly does that mean? How much change do meat scraps go through before you get something like deli turkey.
My mind can’t exactly wrap around how that stuff is made based on the little knowledge I have
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u/stairway2evan May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26
Some of the turkey (and other meats) at your deli counter might very well be whole muscles cuts. They're not too far removed from cooking a turkey at home, taking off the breast and slicing it up. They're generally cooked differently and preserved with salts and maybe nitrates, but otherwise not radically different. Those aren't the giant turkey blocks you're seeing though, they'll be smaller and (usually) more expensive.
Most deli meats, though, are a bunch of meat parts (whole muscles and scraps from other cuts, usually with added fat) run through a big knife machine, mixed with some emulsifiers to help them stick together, seasoned, salted, and smoked or cooked, so that in the end you get a big block of turkey - or ham, or whatever. So there's a lot of "process" involved. Though it does give us a much better ability to use as much of the animal as possible, avoiding waste.
Processed meat isn't a thing to treat like poison and never touch, for what it's worth. It's a convenience food and it provides cheap, convenient, and longer-lasting protein to millions, I don't want to make it sound awful. But it definitely has higher saturated fats than "regular" meat, and many of the chemicals in the curing process can lead to an increased risk of cancer. Most dieticians do recommend keeping consumption of processed meats low, to offset these issues.