What is processed meat, why is it bad for you, and what are the alternatives?

If processed meat seems safe enough to eat, it’s time to think again—especially given the animal cruelty that goes into producing each processed meat product. When you learn how processed meat products are made, you’ll want to leave them off the menu: for yourself, and for the animals.

What is processed meat?

Technically speaking, processed meat is beef or pork that’s preserved through salting or curing. The term also includes canned, smoked, or dried meat, or those with added preservatives—like chicken nuggets, hot dogs, hamburger patties, or cold cuts like bologna.

Every processed meat product begins with an animal who is slaughtered for food, often under inhumane conditions. But the harm processed meat causes extends far beyond the animals themselves.

As strange as it sounds, processed meat has a lot in common with cigarettes. For much of the 20th century, tobacco companies were hard at work convincing people to smoke cigarettes they knew to be dangerous to human health. A combination of public pressure, scientific investigation, and governmental policy finally stemmed the flow of industry propaganda and helped the public understand the real risks associated with smoking. Now, we need another revolution.

The companies that make processed meats like bacon, jerky, and chicken nuggets are responsible for covering up many dangerous, and often deadly, health conditions these foods cause. Regular consumption of processed meat is so bad for the human body that the World Health Organization warns against eating these products. Yet meat companies continue to hide the truth of processed meat, from its cancer-causing properties to the devastating cruelties animals endure during the food production process.

Where is meat processed?

The terminology around meat processing can be tricky to understand. Animals raised for meat begin their lives on factory farms. Their too-short lives then come to an end at a meat processing plant, otherwise known as a slaughterhouse. Then their body parts are sent to meat processing factories to become consumable products.

What happens on a factory farm?

In the United States, the industrial food sector is dominated by a handful of giant corporations that consistently prioritize profit over animal welfare. Factory farms, where animals spend their artificially shortened lives, are a one-way ticket to the plants that create processed meat. All animals on factory farms wind up at the slaughterhouse, where their lives end in horrifically cruel ways.

For example, pigs raised for meat live in cages not much bigger than their bodies for months at a time, mad with boredom and frustration. Chickens raised for meat, known as broiler birds, live in dark, windowless sheds along with hundreds of thousands of other chickens. Those chickens are unable to escape the stench of their own waste which burns their eyes, making every breath they take excruciatingly painful. Even animals who produce foods that vegetarians can eat, including milk and eggs, are exploited so badly that they barely survive more than a handful of years.

What is a meat processing plant?

Despite the misleading name, a meat processing plant is not where meat becomes a processed product. Rather, it’s a place where animals are killed. Known also as slaughterhouses and meatpacking plants, animals who arrive at these facilities die in brutally cruel ways. Some, like cows or pigs, are shot in the head, while chickens are shackled upside down, dunked into water, and electrocuted.

After animals are killed, they are “processed,” which means draining their bodies of blood, dismembering them, and cutting up their carcasses into smaller pieces. Their bodies are either destined for processed meat or cut into the portion sizes we see in grocery stores, labeled strip steak, chicken breasts, leg of lamb, and so on.

Where does processed meat come from?

After an animal is killed and dismembered, their body parts are shipped to factories across the country where they become various products for human consumption. For instance, McDonald’s has factories that make their chicken nuggets and hamburger patties for their nationwide restaurants. In 2012, McDonald’s factories generated controversy when footage surfaced of “pink slime” material used to make its foods; shockingly, this processed meat received approval from the United States Department of Agriculture in 2019.

Tyson, Maple Leaf Foods, and other similar companies also operate factories where animal body parts are turned into processed meats. For brands like this, ownership of their own meat processing plants helps expedite distribution. Unfortunately, animal suffering is inherent in each piece of meat that arrives at a processing plant.

What are some processed meats?

Some processed meats, like hot dogs and spam, have been a part of American diets for decades. Other forms of meat processing, like cured bacon or ham, have been around for much longer, invented out of necessity in times before refrigeration. The animal cruelty behind processed meat production is heartbreaking, as are the negative implications that processed meat consumption has on human health.

Hot dogs and sausages

Hot dogs are ever-popular on summertime grills, at ballparks, and at Fourth of July celebrations nationwide. As with salami and sausages, hot dogs are “emulsified” products, meaning they’re blended with chemicals and ingredients that act as glue to hold the desired shape together. Emulsified products also tend to be made of animal body parts that are often discarded or less desirable. Sausages tend to be less blended than hot dogs, but can be packed into casings that are made from the intestines of animals, which gives them their tubular shape.

Partially due to preservatives like nitrates, hot dog consumption is linked to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and higher mortality.

Cured bacon and ham

The unfortunate reality of processed meat like cured bacon and ham is that these products cause excessive cruelty to pigs, and they are also directly linked to cancer in people. Bacon and cured processed meats are doused in nitrates, which are chemicals added to cured meats—including hot dogs—to give a pinkish color to the flesh. These additives are part of a marketing gimmick designed to fool people into thinking that pink meat is healthy when it is anything but, especially since nitrates form cancer-causing compounds.

Salted meat and corned beef

Salted meat is preserved either by packing the meat in dry salt, or by placing it in a brine of water, salt, and sometimes other spices. Corning is one method of salt preservation, where meat is preserved with larger chunks of salt resembling corn kernels, resulting in what’s known as corned beef. Salt curing enables meat to be preserved for longer periods, but with the invention of refrigeration technologies, the process was largely unnecessary.

Smoked meat

Smoking meat originated in cooking over an open fire, and today it’s a process best known for both preserving and flavoring meat. Fish meat can be smoked, as can beef—for example, pastrami is brined in salt and then smoked.

Dried meat and beef jerky

Dried meat and beef jerky tend to be very heavily processed. Because it requires no refrigeration whatsoever, jerky is salted and marinated in various spices and sauces, as well as other chemical additives that are designed to prolong preservation. Jerky is often smoked and cured before it is dried.

Canned meat

One of the most iconic canned meat products is Spam, an emulsion of pig meat similar to hot dogs. But many types of animal flesh can be sold in cans, whether it comes from chickens, pigs, or cows, and none of them are good for the animals or human health. Bisphenol A, often used in the packaging of canned products, has been associated with cardiovascular disease, immune system problems, and diabetes. Canned meats are also sterilized to prevent the proliferation of the deadly botulism bacteria, heated to high temperatures that cause the meat to turn into an unappealing mush.

Why is processed meat bad for you?

When it comes to eating processed meat, the costs far outweigh the benefits. Factory farms are notoriously cruel to animals, and the cattle, pigs, chickens, raised for processed meat endure a short life under brutally inhumane conditions. Even if animal welfare implications are left out of the equation (though they never should be), here are just a few reasons why processed meat is bad for you:

• Processed meat consumption has been linked with premature death
• One study found that eating nine grams of bacon per day could greatly increase the risk of breast cancer
• Salted meat can raise risks of high blood pressure and heart disease
• Processed meat can cause bowel and stomach cancer

In the end, consuming processed meat just isn’t worth the cost to animals—or to your health.

How can you avoid processed meat?

One of the best ways to avoid processed meat is to choose a plant-based diet, in which the vast majority of the foods you consume are derived exclusively from plants. Fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains are essential components of a healthy diet, delivering the vitamins and minerals required for optimal health. Also, leaving meat off your plate is a great way to make the world a healthier place.

If you’re not ready to adopt a fully plant-based diet, consider cutting down on animal products. Aside from the potential health pitfalls in processed meat, both eggs and dairy products carry negative health consequences and perpetuate the system of factory farming that is so cruel to animals.

Try these helpful starting points to explore dietary options that put plants, and your health, first.

Alternatives to processed meat

It used to be that tofu was the only meat replacement you could count on seeing at restaurants or in grocery stores. As versatile and healthy as tofu can be, incredible innovations have created options that closely mimic processed meat. Plant-based meats like these can help satisfy cravings while taking animal cruelty out of the equation.

• Lightlife makes vegan bacon that you can grill up in the comfort of your home
• Beyond Meat makes sausages and hamburgers that taste essentially identical to the real thing, using pea protein and other plant-based ingredients
• Louisville Vegan Jerky Co. makes vegan jerky in a variety of flavors
• Good Catch makes vegan fish fillets, crab cakes, and tuna
• Quorn makes hamburger patties and other products using mushrooms for authentic meaty textures

Any of these options offer a kinder solution to processed meats, putting robust and healthy flavors on your plate while leaving suffering and cruelty off the menu.

What you can do

Animals are innocent victims of processed meat production, but you can help make a difference with every bite. Put compassion on your plate and opt for foods that are kinder to animals, kinder to the environment, and kinder to your body. Your health, and the health of the planet, will thank you.