What Is "Pink Slime" And Why Is It In 70% Of Supermarket Ground Beef?

I'VE BEEN SLIMED

By Chris Morran 

Earlier this year, McDonald's made headlines when it said it would stop using ammonia-treated beef trimmings lovingly known as "pink slime" in its burgers. Now the former USDA scientist who coined the phrase is speaking out against the widespread use of the stuff — not because it's unsafe, but because he feels like consumers are being deceived into paying for cheap filler.

"It's economic fraud," the scientist explains, adding that you'll find pink slime in 70% of ground beef you buy at the supermarket. "It's not fresh ground beef. ... It's a cheap substitute being added in."

ABC News gives the general details of slime production:

" The "pink slime" is made by gathering waste trimmings, simmering them at low heat so the fat separates easily from the muscle, and spinning the trimmings using a centrifuge to complete the separation. Next, the mixture is sent through pipes where it is sprayed with ammonia gas to kill bacteria. The process is completed by packaging the meat into bricks. Then, it is frozen and shipped to grocery stores and meat packers, where it is added to most ground beef. "

The former USDA scientist and a colleague had warned regulators against the use of the filler, calling it "a salvage product ... fat that had been heated at a low temperature and the excess fat spun out."

But USDA chiefs didn't heed the scientists' concern: "The undersecretary said, 'it's pink, therefore it's meat,'" one of them tells ABC.

http://consumerist.com/2012/03/what-is-pink-slime-and-why-is-it-in-70-of-supermarket-ground-beef.html

Coke, Pepsi to drop level of 'cancer' chemical

By Kerry Sheridan | AFP

Coca-Cola and Pepsi said Friday they have lowered levels of a chemical in caramel coloring to comply with a California law, but insisted the drinks pose no health risks and recipes will not change.

The move allows the companies to avoid having to label products with a cancer warning due to what the health-conscious west coast state has ruled are high levels of 4-methylimidazole, shown to cause cancer in lab rodents.

Both drinkmakers said their popular and highly secretive soda recipes will not be altered but that caramel suppliers have been asked to reduce 4-MEI levels in California, a change that will eventually spread across the United States.

"We are NOT changing our recipe; or our formula," Coca-Cola Company spokesman Ben Sheidler told AFP in an email.

"What we did do is direct our caramel suppliers to make a manufacturing process modification in order to reduce the level of 4-MEI in our caramel so as to meet the requirement set by the state of California's Proposition 65."

For its part, PepsiCo said its beverages "are and always will be safe for consumption."

http://news.yahoo.com/coke-pepsi-drop-level-cancer-chemical-162347754.html;_ylt=AjmZt8YUSIaaK7qDqE3efNes0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTQ2dDBsNzIzBG1pdANTZWN0aW9uTGlzdCBGUCBIZWFsdGgEcGtnAzg4N2E3MTVhLWFiNjQtMzgyOC04ZDM5LWQyOTkyOTUwOGIzZgRwb3MDMgRzZWMDTWVkaWFTZWN0aW9uTGlzdAR2ZXIDMTdkMTE1MDAtNmEyOC0xMWUxLWI3ZjctYTM1MzBjYWIxNzdi;_ylg=X3oDMTFrM25vcXFyBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdAMEcHQDc2VjdGlvbnMEdGVzdAM-;_ylv=3