The Low-Quality Deli Turkey You Should Avoid At All Costs

Deli turkey is one of the most versatile meats you can purchase. It can be used to make a classic turkey sandwich with mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato, and store-bought American cheese. Or you can step things up a notch and create a truly flavorful sandwich that will change the way you make sandwiches at home. From a sweet and savory club sandwich to a turkey panini with chipotle cranberry spread, you'll need good-quality deli turkey to flawlessly recreate these delicious meals. Poor-quality meat will add too much sodium and saturated fat to your sandwich, and this number drastically increases when you use deli turkey with low-quality ingredients.

Unfortunately, not all deli turkey is made the same. Popular brands like Boar's Head, Oscar Mayer, and Buddig are guilty of having one or more of these bad ingredients in their packaged turkey meats: sodium nitrite, sugar, corn syrup, and high levels of sodium. Of these brands, Buddig isn't great in terms of overall quality. In fact, Tasting Table ranked it as the worst packaged deli turkey brand. You should avoid purchasing it because this brand highlights its positives (like being certified gluten-free and having eight grams of protein) on the front of the packaging, so you'll feel good about your purchase. Yet, they avoid displaying what exactly is in their deli turkey. You have to look at the back and read the nutrition facts to get that information. And you'll be surprised to see just how much fat, sodium, and sugar is in each serving of this deli turkey meat.

The appearance of Buddig's packaged deli meat alone is very misleading. It looks identical to any other deli turkey. However, when you open it, it oddly resembles a thin slice of bologna with its similarly round shape. However, it tastes nothing like it. Instead, each slice has a weird rubbery texture that makes it way too chewy to consume. The off-putting texture is more than enough to make you want to avoid eating it and throw it away.

Along with having a terrible texture, Buddig deli turkey slices are extremely salty. It has 590 milligrams of sodium per serving, which is 25 percent of the salt you should consume daily. Between the regular salt and the four types of salt preservatives it includes, there's just too much salt in this meat. Buddig's turkey also includes additives like carrageenan, natural flavoring, potassium lactate, and modified food starch. Yes, these preservatives and additives only make up less than two percent of the ingredients, but they still contribute to the poor quality of this deli turkey.

Plus, it claims to be smoked, chopped, and pressed. Yet, there's no smoked flavor, and the consistency is weird. Despite how terrible this deli turkey is, it's still one of the pricier brands you can purchase. Depending on where you go, you can pay as much as $8 for a 22-ounce package, which is more than a pound of meat. Although this sounds like a great deal, you should avoid this brand altogether. You're better off buying a different brand of deli turkey or getting fresh turkey and slicing it yourself.