Processed meat is meat preserved by salting, smoking, adding preservatives, or using some other method. If canned, tuna, which is considered a meat, is technically processed meat.

That’s because it undergoes the process of canning, which involves adding salt and other ingredients — like oil, broth, water, or seasonings — to the steamed and deboned fish.

Lastly, to keep harmful bacteria at bay and make the tuna shelf stable, the canned fish is cooked at a high temperature. That said, canned tuna isn’t as processed as deli meats.

Processed meat often contains unhealthy amounts of sodium, carcinogens, and nitrates. Although canned tuna is safer than many processed meats, it does contain some mercury.