Does Your Hamburger Contain "Pink Slime"
 

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.”................ story

MisterNice

Eewwwww -- maybe this should be a "biggest gross-out" thread in Omni?

Pretty out there...my first thought reading the article was on the poison factor of ammonia. Don't get me wrong ... the pink slime is pretty out there but the ammonia freaks me more.

This is gross. I wonder if major grocery store chains sell this beef? I wonder if it is in some of the beef - depending on beef/fat ratios?

On a related note, I remember the Texas cattlemen lobbying the Bush Administration several years ago to loosen ground beef standards. The Administration gave in (I am sure it took very little lobbying). This is when traces of spine and other parts were allowed in beef ( small quantities ) and the Japanese prohibited our beef from entering their country.

Jello is good!

(Kosher, too.)

Meat Jello!!!

well looks like time to go vegan

USDA: Meat derided as “pink slime” can now be called ground beef

You might remember exactly where you were in 2012 when your eyes were first assaulted by that : pastel pink goo coiled sausage-like from a machine, allegedly destined for your fast-food burger. Chef Jamie Oliver campaigned against the substance; McDonald’s pledged to stop using it; lawsuit ensued; and after a few years, the controversy largely dissolved from the public eye. But now “pink slime” is back.

In December 2018, the United States Department Of Agriculture’s Food Safety And Inspection Service quietly reclassified “lean finely textured beef,” which some deride as “pink slime,” as “ground beef.” Beef Magazine reports the company that manufactures this product, Beef Products Incorporated, informed its suppliers on Dec. 21 that new USDA guidelines allowed it to refer to that product as simply “ground beef,” and a spokesperson for the USDA FSIS confirmed the reclassification to The Takeout.

https://thetakeout.com/usda-pink-sli...red-1832561890