Is all sausage considered a "Processed Meat"? Over the years, I've read a lot of health information that says processed meats are some of the worst foods for you from a fat, sodium, and nitrate intake perspective.  Then I read that Sausage is a processed meat, which, makes sense.

Is all Sausage considered a "Processed Meat", and is therefore relatively high in fat, sodium, and nitrates?
Generally it's things that have been prepared such that there's some sort of added preservative -- salt, sulfates, sulfides, nitrates, etc.  So this would include all hams except 'fresh ham', almost all deli meats, all sausages, bacon, jerky, corned beef, etc.

So yes, sausage is considered a processed meat.

If you want to get all technical about what 'processed' means it could also include any other form of curing (eg, smoking), and most any form of processing (grinding, slicing, etc), although this second group typically isn't refered to as 'processed meat' (unless it's then glued back together, like chicken nuggets, but those tend to have additives in them already)

As for the health aspects ... like most anything, it's fine in moderation, although there are some people who react badly to sulfates and sulfides.  Some sausages have more additives in them than others, and there are plenty of sausages out there that might be considered 'healthy' if it's in place of other higher salt/fat foods (eg, some brands of chicken &amp; apple sausage).