Pink Slime for Lunch

[Trey of Diamonds]

Pink Slime: It’s What’s for Lunch in America’s Schools

The substance is smooshed into meat patties and served up as hamburgers, but the meat product is made from parts of cows "normally destined for dog food and rendering," reports The Daily.

Microbiologist Gerald Zirnstein and retired microbiologist Carl Custer say the goop is "a high risk product." The two conducted a study on pink slime in the late '90s, when JoAnn Smith—known for being buddy-buddy with the beef industry—was serving as undersecretary for the George H.W. Bush administration. (Smith was president of both the Florida Cattlemen’s Association and the National Cattlemen’s Association). At the time, Custer sounded the alarms for food-safety concerns, but the USDA ignored his warnings, Custer says, soliciting a second assessment of the slime's safety.

Because the meat scraps are particularly vulnerable to contamination, South Dakota company Beef Products, Inc. came up with the idea to soak the stuff in ammonia to kill E. coli and salmonella in 2001. The USDA stamped it with approval and shortly thereafter, the slime was available for public consumption.

 

[Falvlun]

That's disgusting.

 

[dawny0826]

FH just walked by and asked if that was soft serve strawberry ice cream. LOL!

That's horrific. Seriously. Awful.

 

[Neo-Logic]

aw how cute is this how pinkberry gets made?

 

[Nepenthe]

First of all, the fast food franchises that dropped the “pink slime” did so not because of any particular concern about food safety or food science in general, but did so because of the public response from Jamie Oliver’s hyperbolic (and inaccurate) claims about the meat. “Pink slime” is simply meat that has been ph enhanced, it’s the application of ammonia gas to destroy harmful bacteria. Ammonium Hydroxide is harmless in the miniscule amounts used. In fact AH occurs naturally in all baked products- the hamburger bun you eat has up to three times the amount of ammonium hydroxide compared to the beef/chicken between the buns.

And the treated meat comprises less than 25% of the product on the market (not the 70% that Jamie Oliver claimed). Also, the meat used was not “normally destined for dog food and rendering”, it is meat trimmings that have had the fat and tissue separated in a centrifuge then squeezed through a small tube where it is sprayed with the gas. The whole “dog food grade” meat urban legend popped up in the 80s and persists today- the fact is that the Food Safety and Inspection Service and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in accordance with the Federal meat Inspection Act, collectively determine whether food is edible or not. They do not grade meat, it is simply pass or fail, not “good for dogs and rendering but not edible for people”. Neither is it Grade A, B C, or whatever- meat grading is something grocery stores do with no oversight whatsoever. It is as irrelevant as labeling things organic, natural, etc.

I’m certainly not defending the practice and I would never let my kids eat “pink slime”, but the actual science behind the process is quite different than the exaggeration and outright propaganda invented to make Jamie Oliver’s food show garner a larger audience. Personally I’d emphasize the consumption of fresh produce and utilizing farmer’s markets over processed stuff in general- I mean that’s a given. Having said that my main opposition to food corporations is their overt influence on what Americans eat as corporate crime and the emphasis on capitalist excess over safe food manufacturing and its potential ecological impact(s) is pushed aside in favor of profits. I am uncomfortable with corporations like BPI because they are profit based and notoriously reluctant to openly label their products and expose themselves to scrutiny. I’m more worried about the meat packing industry’s exploitation of labor (usual undocumented workers) and cost cutting procedures that may lead to increased incidents of contamination. Overall, I’m far more concerned about capitalism’s negative impact on health and agriculture and the environment as well as our corporate culture’s insistence on secrecy than I am with meat treated with tiny amounts of a harmless gas like ammonium hydroxide.

 

[Willamena]

That's disgusting.

What's more disgusting is that it will get eaten.

 

[Willamena]

First of all, the fast food franchises that dropped the “pink slime” did so not because of any particular concern about food safety or food science in general, but did so because of the public response from Jamie Oliver’s hyperbolic (and inaccurate) claims about the meat. “Pink slime” is simply meat that has been ph enhanced, it’s the application of ammonia gas to destroy harmful bacteria. Ammonium Hydroxide is harmless in the miniscule amounts used. In fact AH occurs naturally in all baked products- the hamburger bun you eat has up to three times the amount of ammonium hydroxide compared to the beef/chicken between the buns.

And the treated meat comprises less than 25% of the product on the market (not the 70% that Jamie Oliver claimed). Also, the meat used was not “normally destined for dog food and rendering”, it is meat trimmings that have had the fat and tissue separated in a centrifuge then squeezed through a small tube where it is sprayed with the gas. The whole “dog food grade” meat urban legend popped up in the 80s and persists today- the fact is that the Food Safety and Inspection Service and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in accordance with the Federal meat Inspection Act, collectively determine whether food is edible or not. They do not grade meat, it is simply pass or fail, not “good for dogs and rendering but not edible for people”. Neither is it Grade A, B C, or whatever- meat grading is something grocery stores do with no oversight whatsoever. It is as irrelevant as labeling things organic, natural, etc.

I’m certainly not defending the practice and I would never let my kids eat “pink slime”, but the actual science behind the process is quite different than the exaggeration and outright propaganda invented to make Jamie Oliver’s food show garner a larger audience. Personally I’d emphasize the consumption of fresh produce and utilizing farmer’s markets over processed stuff in general- I mean that’s a given. Having said that my main opposition to food corporations is their overt influence on what Americans eat as corporate crime and the emphasis on capitalist excess over safe food manufacturing and its potential ecological impact(s) is pushed aside in favor of profits. I am uncomfortable with corporations like BPI because they are profit based and notoriously reluctant to openly label their products and expose themselves to scrutiny. I’m more worried about the meat packing industry’s exploitation of labor (usual undocumented workers) and cost cutting procedures that may lead to increased incidents of contamination. Overall, I’m far more concerned about capitalism’s negative impact on health and agriculture and the environment as well as our corporate culture’s insistence on secrecy than I am with meat treated with tiny amounts of a harmless gas like ammonium hydroxide.

But . . . it's pink.

 

[Nepenthe]

Why do you hate kittens, Willamena? Why?!?!?! :sad:

 

[Quintessence]

Ah, I marvel at this era where humans quaintly forget that our ancestors wasted nothing that could be eaten...

 

[angellous_evangellous]

Reminds me of the time I was walking around my college campus at about 3am and saw a truck dump off food at the caf.

The boxes read "grade D but edible" and they weren't picked up until noon the next day by the caf employees.

 

[Meow Mix]

Why do you hate kittens, Willamena? Why?!?!?! :sad:

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!

*doesn't hate kittens*

 

[Meow Mix]

Pink Slime: It’s What’s for Lunch in America’s Schools

I ain't afraid of no ghosts!

 

[Draka]

Makes me start to think...will it bounce around if happy music is played?

 

[apophenia]

“Pink slime” is simply meat that has been ph enhanced,

I am wondering , after all your arguments that "pink slime" has been unfairly demonised, why do you also say this -

I’m certainly not defending the practice and I would never let my kids eat “pink slime”,

Why would you never let your kids eat it ?

 

[Nepenthe]

[/font]

I am wondering , after all your arguments that "pink slime" has been unfairly demonised, why do you also say this -



Why would you never let your kids eat it ?

Because, as I stated in my post:

Personally I’d emphasize the consumption of fresh produce and utilizing farmer’s markets over processed stuff in general- I mean that’s a given. Having said that my main opposition to food corporations is their overt influence on what Americans eat as corporate crime and the emphasis on capitalist excess over safe food manufacturing and its potential ecological impact(s) is pushed aside in favor of profits. I am uncomfortable with corporations like BPI because they are profit based and notoriously reluctant to openly label their products and expose themselves to scrutiny. I’m more worried about the meat packing industry’s exploitation of labor (usual undocumented workers) and cost cutting procedures that may lead to increased incidents of contamination. Overall, I’m far more concerned about capitalism’s negative impact on health and agriculture and the environment as well as our corporate culture’s insistence on secrecy than I am with meat treated with tiny amounts of a harmless gas like ammonium hydroxide.