The Type Of Canned Meat You Should Avoid At All Costs

When I was a child, I loved Vienna sausages. Whenever I saw a can in our pantry (which really wasn't often), I'd eat every single 2-inch sausage with gusto. Years went by, and one day while grocery shopping, I came across the Vienna sausages tucked away with all the other canned chicken and meat products. I remembered how much I loved them, and so I bought a can. But at home, I pried off the top, took a sausage, bit into it, and thought it tasted awful. Still, many people love them and want others to stop hating on Vienna sausages. Whether you like them or not, you should consider avoiding this particular canned meat, since it may not be the best for you.

Vienna sausages have a relatively short list of ingredients: The cocktail-sized wieners are made with mechanically separated chicken, chicken broth, water, beef, pork, salt, sugar, spices, sodium erythorbate, flavorings, sodium nitrate, and garlic powder. But it's the amount of some of these ingredients found in Vienna sausage that contribute to higher levels of fat, sodium, and cholesterol. The meat snack may contain a good bit of protein, but there isn't much else in it that adds nutritional value.

Libby's is a major brand when it comes to Vienna sausages, and has been making the preserved meat food in 1903. While its individual cans (4.6 ounces) of sausage contain servings for two people, it's not unheard of for one person to gobble down the entirety of the can's contents in one sitting. But when they do, they're consuming 36% of their daily recommended intake of cholesterol, 46% of their fat intake, and 24% of their recommended sodium intake.

Vienna sausages also contain sodium nitrate. The compound is used as a preservative (it's the core difference between cured and uncured hot dogs), provides flavor, and helps to preserve color to foods, but it has also been linked to heart disease, diabetes, and even certain types of cancer. While the phrase "mechanically separated chicken" may raise some eyebrows, it is deemed relatively safe by the USDA. It is a process used to separate edible meat from chicken bones by forcibly pushing it through a type of strainer; this is what gives Vienna sausages their pasty, mushy consistency.

While the shelf life of Vienna sausage may be mighty, there are certainly better choices if you're looking for something more nutritionally sound in canned meat.