Beef Products Inc had been looking to expand into the hamburger business with a product made from beef that included fatty trimmings the industry once relegated to pet food and cooking oil. The trimmings were particularly susceptible to contamination, but a study commissioned by the company showed that the ammonia process would kill E coli as well as salmonella. Officials at the USDA endorsed the company’s ammonia treatment, and have said it destroys E. coli “to an undetectable level.” They decided it was so effective that in 2007, when the department began routine testing of meat used in hamburger sold to the general public, they exempted Beef Products....
With the USDA stamp of approval, the company’s processed beef has become a mainstay in America’s hamburgers. McDonald’s, Burger King and other fast-food giants use it as a component in ground beef, as do grocery chains. The federal school lunch program used an estimated 5.5 million pounds of the processed beef last year alone....
The FDA signed off on the use of ammonia, concluding it was safe when used as a processing agent in foods. This year, a top official with the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service said, “It eliminates E coli to the same degree as if you cooked the product.” ........
Carl S Custer, a former USDA microbiologist, said he and other scientists were concerned that the USDA had approved the treated beef for sale without obtaining independent validation of the potential safety risk. Another department microbiologist
called the processed beef "pink slime" in a 2002 e-mail message to colleagues and said, “I do not consider the stuff to be ground beef, and I consider allowing it in ground beef to be a form of fraudulent labeling.”................
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