Yes, pastrami is a processed meat. It checks multiple boxes in the World Health Organization’s definition: it is brined, cured with preservative salts, seasoned, and smoked. These are exactly the transformation methods that classify any meat as “processed,” putting pastrami in the same category as bacon, hot dogs, and salami.
What Makes Meat “Processed”
The WHO defines processed meat as meat that has been transformed through salting, curing, fermentation, smoking, or other processes to enhance flavor or improve preservation. A meat product only needs to undergo one of these steps to qualify. Pastrami typically undergoes three: curing in a salt brine, seasoning with a spice rub, and smoking. The entire production process takes at least six days, and often longer.
This is what separates pastrami from something like plain roast beef. Roast beef is simply cooked in an oven for a couple of hours and served. No brining, no curing salts, no smoking. That simpler preparation means roast beef generally isn’t classified as processed meat, even though both end up sliced at the deli counter.
How Pastrami Is Made
Traditional pastrami starts with a beef brisket submerged in a curing brine. That brine contains water, kosher salt, sugar, pickling spices, and a key ingredient: curing salt, which contains sodium nitrite. The nitrite serves two purposes. It prevents the growth of dangerous bacteria, particularly the one that causes botulism, and it gives pastrami its characteristic pink-red color. Without it, the meat would turn gray during cooking.
The brisket sits in this brine for 6 to 12 days, flipped daily so the cure penetrates evenly. After brining, it’s coated in a black pepper and coriander rub, then smoked low and slow. Each of these steps, the curing, the salting, and the smoking, independently qualifies pastrami as a processed meat.
Why the “Processed” Label Matters for Health
The WHO’s cancer research agency classified processed meat as a Group 1 carcinogen in 2015, meaning there is convincing evidence it causes cancer in humans. Specifically, the classification is based on strong epidemiological data linking processed meat consumption to colorectal cancer. An analysis of 10 studies estimated that eating 50 grams of processed meat daily (roughly two thin slices of pastrami) increases colorectal cancer risk by about 18%.
The Group 1 label doesn’t mean pastrami is as dangerous as cigarettes. It means the strength of the evidence that it can cause cancer is equally well established. The actual magnitude of the risk is much smaller than smoking.
Sodium and Saturated Fat
Beyond cancer risk, pastrami carries a heavy sodium load. A 100-gram serving (about 3.5 ounces) contains roughly 1,078 milligrams of sodium, nearly half the recommended daily limit of 2,300 milligrams. That’s more than twice the sodium in the same weight of white bread. If you’re eating a pastrami sandwich with pickles and mustard, you can easily hit your full day’s sodium in one meal.
The Cleveland Clinic groups pastrami alongside salami and bologna as deli meats that tend to be high in both saturated fat and sodium, both of which are linked to heart disease when consumed in excess.
What About “Uncured” Pastrami
Some brands sell pastrami labeled “uncured” or “no nitrites added.” This is misleading. These products typically use celery powder or celery juice as a curing agent instead of synthetic sodium nitrite. Celery is naturally high in nitrates, which convert to nitrites during processing and perform the same chemical function. The end product contains similar levels of nitrites and undergoes the same brining and smoking steps. It is still processed meat by any scientific definition.
The “uncured” label is a regulatory distinction, not a health distinction. Whether the nitrites come from a chemical packet or a vegetable extract, the meat has still been cured, salted, and smoked.
Putting It in Perspective
Pastrami isn’t uniquely harmful compared to other cured deli meats. It carries the same risks as any processed meat: elevated colorectal cancer risk with regular consumption, high sodium content, and significant saturated fat. The occasional pastrami sandwich isn’t the same as eating it daily. The WHO’s longstanding recommendation is straightforward: people who eat meat should moderate their intake of processed varieties to reduce cancer risk. If pastrami is a once-in-a-while indulgence rather than a lunch staple, the risk profile looks very different than if it’s a daily habit.