The Right Way To Decode Deli Meat Labels So You Know What You're Buying

All you wanted was to go to the deli counter at your local supermarket and buy some decent cold cuts for your weekday lunches. (Depending on who you ask, you might not need that much meat for a sandwich, anyway.) And yet it seems like everywhere you turn, there's some label or another you need to contend with. Organic turkey? Sure. Lower-fat chicken? Why not. All-natural roast beef? Might as well. But which labels actually mean something specific and concrete, as with Prime and Choice beef, and which are just glorified ad copy? Let's start with the labels that don't really mean anything: 'natural' and 'healthy.'

The USDA defines 'natural' very broadly, which means that any old deli meat can call itself "natural" so long as it doesn't have synthetic additives or artificial flavors. While we suppose it's nice to know the ham you bought wasn't treated with the ooze that created the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, it really doesn't tell you much at all about its actual nutritional content. The same goes for 'healthy,' which is defined as a food item from one of the major food groups that doesn't contain more than a certain amount of sugar or salt. While the USDA recently amended its guidelines to be more strict, companies don't have to comply until 2028, which means that 'healthy' remains a little too broad. It's the old "asbestos-free cereal" trick: If an item sells itself as natural and healthy, its competitors must be unnatural and unhealthy, right?

There are some other food labels that apply to deli meats which have somewhat stricter guidelines, although there are still ways to get around them. Consider organic food labels, for instance. If you see deli meat sold with a "100% Organic" label, that means just what it sounds like: it's 100% organic. If it's labeled "Certified Organic," 5% of the ingredients could be non-organic (still pretty good). But if you see "made with organic ingredients," that means as much as 30% of the product could be made with non-organic ingredients.

Then there's the question of something being "low sodium" or "low fat." The unsuspecting shopper might think "reduced sodium turkey," "lower sodium turkey," and "low sodium turkey" mean essentially the same thing, but that's not at all the case. "Low sodium" has a very specific meaning: It can contain no more than 140 grams of sodium per serving. "Lower sodium" or "reduced sodium," on the other hand, can contain any amount of sodium so long as it's 25% less than the regular version of the product. The same goes for "low fat," which can contain no more than three grams per serving, while "reduced fat" just has to have 25% less fat than normal. It's a lot to keep in mind, but now you're a little more prepared for the deli counter.