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Healthiest Deli Meat: Low Sodium Lunch Meat, Turkey vs Ham & Is Lunch Meat Bad for You?

Audio from the Clean Food Score video of the same name; the video shows the labels and scores on screen.

The healthiest deli meat, going by the label, is plainly roasted turkey, chicken or roast beef with a short ingredient list, low sodium per 2 oz serving and no added sugar, carrageenan or phosphates. We explain what "low sodium" legally means (140 mg or less per serving), turkey vs ham, what the WHO's cancer agency actually said about processed meat, and real deli turkey labels with their Clean Food Score (as of October 2026). We read labels; we don't give medical advice.

Full guide and the products we checked
Check any ingredient list free

Chapters
0:00 The Short Answer
0:44 Sodium Comes First
1:28 What Low Sodium Means
2:15 Reading the Sodium Line
3:01 The Curing Question
3:35 Sugar, Carrageenan and Phosphates
4:20 Turkey vs Ham
5:00 Is Lunch Meat Bad for You?
6:09 The Deli Label Check
6:55 Picks From Our Catalog
7:49 Your Turn

Product scores are Clean Food Score's 0–100 label scores as shown on cleanfoodscore.com on 2026-10-18. Recipes change, so read the package you buy. We read labels; this is not medical advice.

Music
"Carefree" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

"Fresh Air" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

"Disquiet" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

"Almost Bliss" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Sound effects: Kenney (kenney.nl), CC0.

#delimeat #lowsodium #foodlabels