Can children eat ham sausage?

Nowadays, many parents are determined not to allow their children to eat fast food and fried foods. Another thing that is taboo is ham sausage, because many parents think that the meat in ham sausage cannot be guaranteed to be purely healthy, including the current meat that is not safe to eat, so everyone will naturally be more worried that the meat in ham sausage may contain some things that are bad for the body. I don’t know if it is okay to let children eat it. Can children eat ham sausage?

In fact, they are two completely different things. Apart from the use of pork and salt, there is almost no other similarity between the three. Ham is a cured or smoked pork leg, while sausage is made by cutting the meat into pieces, curing and seasoning it, then canning it directly, and then air-drying or smoking it. It must be cooked before eating.

Ham sausage is made from livestock and poultry meat as the main raw material, with a certain fat-to-lean ratio, supplemented with fillers (starch, plant protein powder, etc.), and then added with seasonings, spices, quality improvers, color preservatives, water retaining agents, preservatives and other substances. It is made by processing techniques such as pickling, chopping (or emulsification), and high-temperature steaming.

Although ham, ham and sausage are all pork products, their nutritional content is different from pork due to different processing methods. For example, a certain proportion of fat will be added to ham sausage, and starch will also be added, so its protein content is lower than lean meat, but the fat and carbohydrates are higher. The pork used in sausages is a combination of fat and lean meat, and needs to be air-dried, so its nutritional density is increased. The protein, fat and carbohydrates are much higher than fresh lean meat.

Due to the production process, a good ham sausage cannot have too much fat, otherwise it will lack texture and appear soft and greasy. In addition, although the addition of soy protein and starch can help reduce costs, it should not be too much because it will also affect the texture.

The shelf life of ham is usually 6 months to 1 year, but it is not easy to preserve meat, so it usually relies on high-temperature heating sterilization, high salt and preservatives.

In this case, we should pay close attention to the product description when purchasing ham sausage. The protein content in the nutritional ingredients should meet the standard, and the carbohydrates should not be excessive, otherwise too much starch will be added. However, because ham sausage contains high salt content, it should be used with caution by the elderly, especially those with high blood pressure and poor kidney function. As for the use of food additives, it is best not to use them for infants and young children.