Page 42 - Turkey Book from Meathead

because salt and water are natural ingredients! In fact, the word natural has no legal meaning in the US and it is widely misused. Remember, this is a country where Congress once decided to classify ketchup as a vegetable!
But salt is not evil. It is an “essential nutrient” which means it is necessary for good health and you must ingest it because your body doesn't make it. Without salt, your brain and nervous system cannot function. That’s why all your bodily fluids are salty: Blood, tears, saliva, sweat, and semen. Excessive salt consumption can be hazardous, but not moderate consumption.
Let's do a little more math: An ounce of enhanced Butterball turkey (which has neither butter nor balls) contains about 65 mg sodium. So an 8 ounce portion of turkey, a pretty nice size serving, will contain 520 mg of salt. The Cleveland Clinic recommends you keep your daily intake down to 2,000 mg if you are on a low sodium diet, that serving of turkey is only one-quarter of the recommended daily amount of salt for someone whose doctor has told them to watch their salt intake. No sweat. Chow down!
Nowadays finding a bird that has not been salted is almost mission impossible. To get a bird that is not pumped, you need to special order it, go to a specialty store, or buy one directly from a farmer. Some butchers develop relationships with local farmers and will take orders for fresh birds. Another good source is a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) organization which you can find
through LocalHarvest.org.