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

Weekend reads: Is there pink slime in your ground beef?

Food news and items of interest from around the Web for your weekend reading.

When I buy beef, I almost always purchase it from Hillacres Pride, a Lancaster County, Pa., farm that sells at my local farmers market and makes a monthly delivery to South Jersey during the market’s off-season. Today on the farm’s Facebook page, they wrote this.

 

Rest assured that our ground beef is 100% ground beef and does not contain pink slime. I am so glad we have our meat to eat!

 

Pink slime, the parts of cows that are usually considered inedible but are made edible by a chemical treatment, was nixed by McDonalds' recently. The USDA hasn’t gotten rid of it, though, and pink slime was back in the news this week.

 

• ABC News reports that 70 percent of supermarket ground beef contains pink slime. I had no idea. Now I’m really glad I know where my ground beef comes from.

• It’s not just in supermarket ground beef. The USDA is buying 7 million pounds of beef that contains pink slime for our nation's schools according to Yahoo. That’s one really great reason to pack your kids’ lunches.

• The Consumerist explains what pink slime is and how it is created.

• You’ll probably see a photo of what looks like pink soft serve ice cream floating around the Internet and connected to many articles about pink slime.The Washington Post says that photo is not actually what pink slime looks like. That photo has been circulating for years and is actually associated with chicken not beef.

 

Enjoy your weekend!

 

http://www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating/blogs/weekend-reads-is-there-pink-slime-in-your-ground-beef 

Less 'pink slime' may mean more poorly treated cattle

Many grocery stores are getting rid of beef with added lean, finely textured beef due to consumer concern. Score one for consumers — but not for the cows.

Over the past couple of days, the list of grocery stores that have said they will stop selling beef with added lean, finely textured beef (LFTB) — also known as “pink slime” — has grown.

 

Kroger, Stop & Shop, Food Lion, Supervalue and Safeway all announced their intentions to stop selling beef with the filler because of customer concerns. Other stores, including Whole Foods, A&P, and Costco, are coming out to announce that their beef has never had LFTB. My grocery store of choice, Wegmans, made the statement on its website that the company's organic and “Food You Feel Good About” ground beef does contain “lean beef trimmings.”

 

The beef industry is getting worried that the decisions by these stores to sell “pink slime-less” beef could lead to an increase in ground beef prices. The American Meat Institute said in the short term, these stores may see an increased cost for ground beef. The amount of the increase was not specified.

 

As I was reading about this, I was pleased to see more evidence that the voices of consumers are finally being heard and taken into consideration. Then, I read that the American Meat Institute estimates that an additional 1.5 million head of cattle will be necessary to create the meat that will take the place of “pink slime.”

 

Ugh. One problem solved; another one created. About 1.5 million more cows, many of them raised in CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations). Cattle raised this way are usually kept in inhumane conditions, fed food that they wouldn’t naturally eat, and pumped full of antibiotics. CAFOs create many environmental problems, too.

 

I don’t have any solutions to this problem, but I do have some advice. Eat less beef. And, when you do choose to eat beef, try to get it from a local farm where you know the cows have been raised and fed in a humane manner. 

 

Has all the “pink slime” talk lately changed the way you think about and buy beef?

 

http://www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating/blogs/less-pink-slime-may-mean-more-poorly-treated-cattle

Pink Slime and Other Weird Food Additives You Don't Know You're Eating

Pink Slime and Other Weird Food Additives You Don't Know You're Eating
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By IBTIMES STAFF REPORTER: Subscribe to IBTimes's RSS feed
February 1, 2012 11:02 AM EST
Pink slime - a mix of meat trimmings washed in ammonium hydroxide and used in fast food burger patties - churned consumer's stomachs so much, McDonald's banned the slop, according to news reports.


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(Photo: The Inquisitr)
Pink slime – a mix of meat trimmings washed in ammonium hydroxide and used in fast food burger patties – churned consumer’s stomachs so much, McDonald’s banned the slop, according to news reports.
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Other fast food joints such as Taco Bell and Burger King also distanced themselves and stopped using the meat filler that takes meat offcuts, washes them in the harsh chemical and them blends them into hamburger meat.

Though the Daily Mail made a splash Friday with Naked Chef host and food advocate Jamie Oliver claiming victory over the stop, McDonald's hasn't used the pink ick since August.

"At the beginning of 2011, we made a decision to discontinue the use of ammonia-treated beef in our hamburgers," Todd Bacon, senior director of quality systems for McDonald's, said in a statement. "This product has been out of our supply chain since August of last year. This decision was a result of our efforts to align our global standards for how we source beef around the world."

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Foodie Oliver, who advocates against fast food in his television programs, claimed victory, asking the Mail "'Why would any sensible human being want to put ammonia-filled meat into their children's mouths?

"The great American public needs to urgently understand what their food industry is doing."

McDonald's denies the charge that Oliver's campaign forced the world's largest restaurant chain to change its ways.

"We are always reviewing and evolving our standards to ensure we continue to serve safe, high quality food to our customers," Bacon said.

Ammonia hydroxide - similar in chemical composition to urea found in human urine - is only one of several food treatments or additives used in the food industry.

Below are some other weird food additives:

Ammonium sulfate: Similar in chemical composition to the wash for meat trimmings, this substance is used as a dough enhancer in some commercial bakers. The chemical feeds dough-rising yeast and makes a more consistent bread.

Propylene glycol: This chemical is very similar to ethylene glycol - dangerous anti-freeze. This less-toxic iteration prevents products from becoming too solid. Low-free ice cream has the ingredient; otherwise you'd be eating ice.

Carmine: Commonly found in red food coloring, this chemical comes from crushed cochineal, small red beetles that burrow into cacti. Husks of the beetle are ground up and forms the basis for red coloring found in foods ranging from cranberry juice to M&Ms.

Titanium dioxide: This whitening agent is used in sun screen, but is also added to skim milk that is normally bluish in color. This chemical doesn't have to be listed as an ingredient, so you may not know if you're drinking it or not.

Shellac: Yes, this chemical used to finish wood products also gives some candies their shiny sheen. Plus, it comes from the female Lac beetle.

L-cycsteine: This common dough enhancer comes from hair, feathers, hooves and bristles.

Lanolin (gum base): Next time you chew on gum, remember this. The goopiness of gum comes from lanolin, oils from sheep's wool that is also used for vitamin D3 supplements.

Silicon dioxide: Nothing weird about eating sand, right? This anti-caking agent is found in many foods including shredded cheese and fast food chili.

Sources: Restless Chipotle, WebEcoist, Natural Food Finder