"The Dirty Dozen" #3

3. Processed meats and hydrolyzed soy protein: By Jordan Rubin

The quintessential processed meat of all time is SPAM, a syllabic abbreviation of "Shoulder of Pork and hAM," because it deserves Hall of Fame status in pantheon of faux foods. Spam is one of those mystery meats--along with breakfast links, frankfurters, salisbury steaks, bologna, sausages, and salami--where you have no idea what part of the steer or pig is used. You can figure, though, that youre eating ground up stomach, snout, intestines, spleens, edible fat, and even lips!

One thing you can be sure of is that processed meats contain nitrates to convey flavor, give meats their blood-red color, and resist that development of botulism spores. Nitrates can convert to nitrites, which have been studied for decades in public and private settings and found to cause cancer and tumors in test animals.

While we're on this unpleasant topic, I would also steer clea of processed turkey and chicken luncheon meat for the same nitrate reasons (unless its organic and the ingredients dont have nitrates in them).

You may be wondering what hydrolyzed soy protein is all about. Have you ever substituted imitation carb for the real stuff when making a pasta dish for the family? Sprinkled imitation back buts on their salad? Ordered inexpensive sushi at a restaurant? All these foods are forms of hydrolyzed soy protein.

Hydrolyzed soy protein usually contains a significant amount of genetically modified soy as well as compounds that closely mirror the dangerous monosodium glutimate, or MSG. Hydrolyzed soy protein is also a known excitotoxin, which means it has the potential to cause neurological disturbances. Its not fish or fowl, and its not real food.

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