SPAM Chopped Pork and Ham — DUMP
Munch or Dump rates SPAM Chopped Pork and Ham by Hormel DUMP — score 20/90.
Heavily processed canned meat cured with sodium nitrite, loaded with salt and saturated fat, plus added sugar, starch and a stabiliser. NOVA 4 through and through.
Why this verdict
- Cured with sodium nitrite — processed meat is a WHO Group 1 carcinogen
- Very high salt (~2.4g/100g) and saturated fat (~9.7g/100g)
- Added sugar and modified starch padding out the meat
- Phosphate stabiliser and added flavourings — textbook NOVA 4
Ingredients (10)
- Pork (89%) (moderate) — Real meat and the bulk of the product, but fatty cuts driving high saturated fat.
- Salt (moderate) — Added sodium for flavour.
- Starch (moderate) — Refined starch used for texture and to dust the candy; empty carbohydrate.
- Water (safe) — Inert; just adjusts texture.
- Ham (2%) (moderate) — Token amount of cured ham, mostly there for the name.
- Sugar (concerning) — Added refined sugar, listed high - spikes blood sugar with no nutrition.
- Stabiliser: Trisodium Diphosphate (concerning) — Added phosphate that improves water-binding; high phosphate intake stresses kidneys and is linked to cardiovascular risk.
- Flavourings (moderate) — A vague 'natural flavour' catch-all - not concerning health-wise, but undefined, which is the only thing keeping this from a fully clean list.
- Antioxidant: Sodium Ascorbate (safe) — A form of vitamin C used to speed curing and limit nitrosamine formation.
- Preservative: Sodium Nitrite (harmful) — Curing agent that forms carcinogenic nitrosamines in processed meat — the marker of the Group 1 carcinogen classification.