6 Store-Bought Bologna Brands That Use High-Quality Ingredients

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Bologna — implausibly pronounced "bull-own-knee" — is a type of cooked lunch meat made from finely ground mystery meat, meaning it can be made from pork, chicken, beef, turkey, or a combination thereof. The name is derived from the Italian city of Bologna — pronounced "bull-own-gna," which makes more sense — the place where mortadella was invented. This is another type of lunch meat made with ground pork. It often contains pepper and bits of pistachio and has a much cleaner, less-processed flavor.

Mortadella turned into bologna after crossing the Atlantic to America, and it has since become a popular lunch meat. Bologna now occupies a nostalgic space in American culinary tradition, often recalling childhood memories of simple sandwiches stuffed into superhero-themed lunchboxes. But being old-school, in and of itself, doesn't necessarily make it high-quality. In response, we've put together a list of bologna brands that use higher quality ingredients — as defined by freshness level, taste, amounts of additives, minimal processing, or all of the above — that are worth buying. 

Applegate Naturals advertises that it uses humanely raised turkeys to make its turkey bologna. It also does not use nitrates as a preservative. Nitrates are often added to bologna and other cured meats to prevent the growth of bacteria and improve flavor, but these compounds can break down into nitrosamines.

Added nitrates have been shown to increase the risk of some cancers, according to a 2022 study published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, but more research is needed to conclusively link the two. Although nitrates are natural components of our world — they are nitrogen and oxygen molecules that you might even find in your spinach and other leafy greens (which break down differently than added nitrates) — many consumers opt to avoid added nitrates for health reasons. Consumers may appreciate Applegate's ethical sourcing and commitment to avoiding added nitrates. 

Although this brand of bologna can only be found at Whole Foods, and perhaps online on Amazon, it's worth the trip. The Whole Foods beef bologna one of the best bolognas you can buy, and it's free from antibiotics and added hormones. Overexposure to antibiotics — through our meat, for example — may weaken our immune system, according to a 2024 study published in Antibiotics (Basel). Consuming excessive amounts of hormones through meat may disrupt our own hormonal balance, and excess consumption of these hormones through the diet may increase the risk of certain types of cancers, as reported in 2024 research published in Nature – though more research will need to be done to conclusively link negative health risks with eating beef that's been treated with growth hormones.

Not only that, but if you think about it, it's kind of gross. In order to meet (pun intended) demand for meat, farmers often use growth hormones — such as synthetic testosterone and estrogen — to make their cows or pigs grow faster and bigger. This raises ethical concerns about the wellbeing of these animals and how that added stress contributes to the quality of the meat, though conclusive ties between the use of the hormones and meat quality cannot yet be made.

The kosher label often comes with at least a perception of greater care and accountability for a product, as they undergo rabbinical supervision. But a kosher certification alone does not make a food item healthier.

Only Empire Kosher made this list because of its commitment to not use antibiotics in its bologna, which we ranked as one of the best brands on store shelves. Antibiotic residue from agriculture can promote the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in humans, according to a 2022 report published in Veterinary World. Empire Kosher also only uses meat sourced from local farms, within a 100-mile radius of its plant in Mifflintown, Pennsylvania. This may mean the meat is exposed to fewer opportunities for quality degradation during transport because the travel time is likely shorter than if the meat was mass-produced and transported across the country.

This bologna is made from the original family recipe that launched the business back in 1912. It's a secret recipe, so we may never know the particulars of the ingredients. But the business was nice enough (or obligated by the USDA?) to let us know something about its ingredients, namely that it does not use any artificial coloring in the meat.

It touts its meat as being "all natural," but what does that mean, exactly? As per the USDA, the term "natural" is thought to mean a product that contains "no artificial ingredient or added color and is only minimally processed" — though there is no oversight or certification for natural products. This doesn't tell us much about the use of antibiotics or hormones, for example, but minimal processing may definitely be a plus for some consumers.

Restaurants seem to throw the term "premium beef" around like there's no tomorrow, but you may put more weight into a packaged food label than what's printed on a sidewalk sandwich board. So when Schmalz's says it uses premium beef in its bologna — not to be confused with the USDA-designated Prime beef — that can mean only one thing: It uses meat with a high standard of quality, which is not usually the case with the meats from which bologna is made.

Indeed, bologna is typically made with a mixture of emulsified meats from one or more of the usual suspects: cows, pigs, chickens. Though Schmalz's, which is German bologna, may differ from regular American bologna. More to the point, bologna usually contains the scraps or byproducts of those meats — meaning it's decidedly not "premium."

Artificial flavoring might sound like a vague concept, or almost a non-entity on a list of ingredients that range from the recognizable (turkey) to the unfathomable (autolyzed yeast). But in the highly specific world of packaged food ingredients, artificial flavorings are synthetic ingredients and thus are not deemed "natural."

Luckily, Land O'Frost does not use any artificial flavors or added hormones in its bologna, which is only sold as a Premium Sub Kit with smoked ham and salami. It also does not use added byproducts, which means that there are no non-skeletal muscle organs such as kidney or liver. While there is nothing inherently wrong or low-quality about such byproducts, which are still meticulously assessed for safety, kidney and liver do not scream scrumptious for most people.