Rita, welcome to the wonderful world of labels. Sigh.

Much of today's commercial pork is "enhanced". The label will say ___% flavor enhancer. That's salt water and yes, we're paying for it.

The manufacturers say that today's pork is so lean that it needs the solution to retain moisture. Pah. I think they just want us to pay for salt and water. Grrrr....

Annie

Rita, I feel your pain. You have to be so careful about fresh pork products. You expect sausage to be salt laden, but the fresh pork chops...? You also have to watch out for the skinless, boneless chicken parts (fresh & frozen) too. I spend so much time in the grocery stores just reading & checking labels. By the time I'm done shopping, I'm exhausted!

Annie, I love that term, "ENHANCED." With so many Americans suffering from high blood pressure, how can added salt be an enhancement? But I agree with you, it's probably done to add weight that we can be charged for. And it may be done to offset complaints by people who overcook pork, relying on 1950s era cooking methods.

Is there ANYTHING that doesn't have extra salt, sugar or the dreaded corn syrup in it?

The only way I know to lower the sodium is to raise it yourself or live somewhere you can get fresh butchered meat. I'm fortunate to have both available but I waffle with the supermarket pork because it's basically prebrined and tastes so good (added salt) and is more forgiving of my bad cooking technique.

I've been reading labels for years and years, on prepared foods... And I knew about the added sodium in turkey for a few years now... Just last year I found out about the added salt in chicken... Adding water to up the weight is one thing but never, ever, in my wildest dreams, would I have thought to check the sodium content on fresh meat!

And what really ticks me off is that I thought I had a great way of flavoring beans, with home made pork stock... Now I know why the baked beans tasted so good, all that salt... I have about 10 pounds of pork bones and trimmings in the freezer that has to be tossed out now.

Rita

Rita, don't throw anything out. Not all fresh pork has been enhanced with salt solution. And usually it's the better cuts -- loin roasts, chops, tenderloin, etc. I've shopped at stores where some cuts are labeled as enhanced and others have no such label at all. Perhaps your bones & trimmings came from minimally processed pork products.

I'm afraid not Shambo... When I was in Meijers on Wednesday all the pork had the new labels saying 10% salt solution... Everything from the 99 cents a pound country ribs to the $6. a pound pork chops... My only hope is that they just started buying the salted pork this week... I'm waiting to hear back from them...

Rita

I was buying canned garbanzos and corn and stuff for the pantry, and was confused by the labels, so I started reading carefully.

One brand of something said "reduced salt" - so I looked at that, and one of the ingredients was "salt" -- then I looked at another brand - no added salt at all. So they tout "reduced salt" as if that's a good thing, but they shouldn't add any salt to begin with!

Rita, what a dilemma! I hate it when you think you've finally found a product you can use without any trepidation, and then the grocery store changes brands, suppliers or, even worse, discontinues it. I hope you can find another source for just, plain pork.

Gina, I'm with you! That "lower sodium" label can be so deceiving. I saw a lower sodium version of a Top Ramen type soup. Sure, it was about 25% less sodium than the regular stuff. But even so, it was still hideously high in sodium content. I can't use the Swanson lower sodium chicken broth because it's still too full of salt for me to comfortably use. Yet the Pacific and Trader Joe's lower sodium chicken broth cartons are perfect for someone on a restricted salt diet.