Don’t be fooled by supermarkets. They are selling you meat from… Read more

It is not automatically synonymous with unsafe food. Different types of mechanically separated meat have different regulatory requirements, and products containing mechanically separated pork or poultry must be identified accordingly on the ingredient statement.

The important lesson is to avoid judging a product solely by a frightening-sounding word. Instead, understand what the term means and check how it appears on the label.

How to Shop More Carefully

Before putting packaged meat into your cart, take a few seconds to examine the package. Start with the ingredient list and notice which ingredients appear first. Ingredients are generally listed from greatest to least amount by weight.

Next, check the serving size and sodium content. Two products that look almost identical can have noticeably different nutritional profiles.

Also pay attention to statements about retained water, added ingredients and processing methods. If you’re comparing several products, looking at the labels side by side can make the differences much easier to see.