Diet, Cooking, and Exercise: flavor enhancers

Naively walking into the supermarket to purchase food for my first days of dieting, I assumed that lean meats such as boneless skinless chicken breasts, lean ground beef, turkey, and perhaps a lean steak in small portions, would become staple meat protein sources for my diet. I bought Tyson chicken breasts, Honeysuckle White ground turkey patties, and extra lean ground beef (96/4) thinking they would be among the lowest in fat and sodium. I was right about the fat, but very wrong about the sodium.

As I logged what I ate and its nutrient content, I was surprised to find that the chicken breasts and ground turkey each contained 200 mg of sodium per 4 oz. portion. The extra lean ground beef was a reasonable 55 mg. I had shopped at our local Wal-Mart Supercenter and assumed that as the largest supermarket, it would have what I needed. Boy was I wrong. I found that all of their beef except the extra lean ground beef was treated with flavor enhancers containing sodium. Of the beef I surveyed, the range of sodium was from 200-390 mg of sodium. Beef naturally contains about 50-55 mg of sodium. Many poultry products are brined, or soaked in a solution that adds weight, ostensibly flavor, and of course, sodium. Poultry naturally contains about the same 50-55 mg of sodium, as does natural pork. The only meat I buy there now is the extra lean ground beef, and occasionally a minimally processed ground white turkey.

I made a trip to the other supermarket (our largest town is only 6000 people and the whole county only has a population of 20,000) and talked with the butcher. He explained that Wal-Mart packages their meats at a remote location and ships them in, so they use flavor enhancers the keep the meats fresh-looking after the time they spend on the road traveling to our store. Tyson makes an all-natural chicken, but Wal-Mart doesn’t routinely carry it. Fortunately, the other store doesn’t enhance their meats and carries some minimally-processed poultry under the names, Tyson All-Natural, Air-Chilled, and Smart Chicken.

I’ve always been a dedicated supermarket package reader and I celebrated the requirement for nutrition information on packages, but, I was unprepared for this development in meats. (My wife understands why it takes me so long to shop; she just doesn’t want to come along.) The admonition here is that we don’t have to settle for high-sodium over processed meats. Read the labels and talk with the butchers.