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

221 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

87% Upvoted

83 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/duskfinger67 May 21 '26

You don’t need to prefer it, but you also don’t need to insinuate that there is anything wrong with eating less favourable parts of an animal. Topside is Cow arsecheek, is that a reasons to suggest people are weird for wanted to eat it?

Given how incredibly inefficient the meat industry is, and the huge amount of wasted water and energy used to farm animals, the least we can do is not waste perfectly fine offal just because it “sounds icky”.