Food

Five Things You May Not Know About Lunch Meat

Posted: 1/7/2012

There’s more to delicious deli meats than many people realize.

(NAPSI)--Do parents really know what they are feeding their kids? Land O’Frost, the nation’s largest family-owned packaged lunch meat brand, is demystifying lunch meat and offering consumers “Did You Know?” facts about their product.

As a company whose priority is food safety, Land O’Frost is a leader in keeping lunch meat tasty, fresh and safe both on and off the shelves. In fact, Land O’Frost has been awarded numerous industry recognitions for food safety technologies, including American Meat Institute safety awards and Safe Quality Food Certification on all three of the company’s facilities.

“Every school season brings the return of thousands of sandwiches being made, packaged and eaten every day by families across the country,” said Karen Malsom, director of innovation at Land O’Frost. “Food safety and making quality products have always been top priorities for Land O’Frost, which is why it is our goal to help consumers better understand lunch meat by clearing up some common misconceptions.”

Myths And Facts

Malsom debunks the following myths about a product that thousands of people in the U.S. eat every day:

1. Deli meat is fresher than prepackaged lunch meat. FALSE: When lunch meat is packaged in Zip-Pak pouches, as is Land O’Frost lunch meat, the freshness is sealed in. This keeps prepackaged lunch meat fresher, longer compared to deli meat.

2. Nitrites in lunch meat are bad for you. FALSE: Nitrite occurs naturally in many plants and foods and is produced by the human body. Nitrites that are used in processing lunch meat prevent the growth of bacteria that produce food poisons. Nitrites are the curing agent used during processing and impart a preservative effect in meat products.

3. Eating meat daily is not healthy. FALSE: The U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend eating 5 to 7 ounces of meat per day as part of a healthy, balanced diet.

4. Processed lunch meat is less sanitary than raw produce and other meat products. FALSE: Lunch meats have been cooked and packaged in a sanitary manner under controlled conditions, unlike raw products such as sprouts, lettuce, spinach and raw hamburger meat.

5. Lunch meat only stays fresh for a few days. FALSE: Packaged lunch meat kept at 35 degrees Fahrenheit, the average temperature of a refrigerator, will last up to its sell-by date unopened or seven days after opening.

More Fun Facts

In addition, here are five “Did You Know?” facts related to lunch meat:

• Lunch meat was brought to the U.S. in the 1800s by European immigrants.

• Sandwiches, a $121 billion market, are the most popular item eaten by Americans, according to food experts.

• Lunch meat is a $3.4 billion industry.

• American men, on average, eat 6.9 ounces of meat per day and women eat 4.4 ounces.

• Total meat and poultry production in 2010 reached more than 92.1 billion pounds.

Land O’Frost manufactures sliced packaged luncheon meats (beef, chicken, turkey and ham) and is the largest family-owned brand of packaged deli meat in the U.S. Some of the leading products marketed by Land O’Frost include: Land O’Frost Premium One Pound, the top-selling deli pouch in the U.S.; Land O’Frost Deli-Shaved and its ultrapremium line Land O’Frost Bistro Favorites. Information on several additional items can be found on its website. The Land O’Frost brand can be found in the supermarkets and mass merchandisers that account for nearly 90 percent of the retail sales in the country, as well as Mexico, Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories. The company operates three facilities in Lansing, Ill., Madisonville, Ky. and Searcy, Ark.

Learn More

You can get great recipes, nutritional information and more at www.landofrost.com.