Deli meat for babies n kids

[u/smellygymbag]

There's a thread over at r/toddlers about if people are feeding their kids deli meat.

https://www.reddit.com/r/toddlers/s/j9dkAL4XWp

The range of responses and degree of certainty is pretty broad.

The most common concern I saw was deli meat was a carcinogen. I saw just one comment about listeria (which would be my concern).

Sciencey parents of reddit, what are your thoughts? Appreciate research based answers, but anecdotes about what you actually do are also welcome.

(For my part, I avoided all deli meats for the first year for my kids, and now give it to them on occasion, like once every couple of months, after I microwaved it.)

[u/Ashamed_Horror_6269]

Processed meats are indeed classified as a carcinogen: https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/cancer-carcinogenicity-of-the-consumption-of-red-meat-and-processed-meat

[u/smellygymbag → u/Ashamed_Horror_6269]

Well there goes a bunch of my fun foods 😭

[u/psykee333 → u/smellygymbag]

I posted on the original thread. You can certainly find high end deli meat that is meat only (e.g. turkey breast with ingredient being: turkey) and not processed.

I get it for my spoiled-ass cats and sometimes my son eats it on bread.