You Are What You Eat: Pink Slime

Okay so here’s today’s riddle:  what is pink, meaty, contains ammonia, and can be found in your hamburger, your taco, your meatballs, and has been in some of your kids’ lunches for years?  Give up?  It’s called pink slime (a.k.a ground beef).  And no, the word ammonia isn’t a typo. 

Pink slime is the result of scraps of meat your butcher would normally throw away that are being used to make ground beef.  These are parts not meant for human consumption because they may contain salmonella. However they are given to dog food manufacturers to use.  Well not wanting to waste this stuff, someone (Beef Products, Inc.) got the bright idea to use ammonia to kill the bacteria.  So apparently they treat it with an ammonia and water solution, drain it, grind it up, and voila!  Hamburger! Now, don’t go looking for ammonia to be listed on the product’s label of ingredients.  It is not required to be there.  Oh, but not to worry though.  Federal regulators say pink slime is safe for human consumption!

Chef Jamie Oliver brought awareness to this outrageous practice last April and asked the public for help.  If you stomach hasn’t completely turned yet (and even if it has), watch this YouTube video (click here) where he informs a group of children and their parents about what really is in their school lunches.  

So here we are the beef eating public for years unknowingly consuming this ahem, meat at fast food joints, supermarkets, and in our kids’ cafeteria lunches. 

Last year McDonalds discontinued use of this product as a result of public outcry.  You should know however, that federal regulators, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, Beef Products, Inc. and others have lashed back trying to dispel some of these “myths”, and have websites such as www.pinkslimeisamyth.com to address your concerns.

But now, after years of eating this stuff, the USDA has announced that it is finally taking steps to eliminate this pink slime product from some school lunches.  However, this won’t take effect until the end of the year due to contract issues.

So maybe in the meantime you might want to pack your kids’ lunches and look for hamburger products at your organic and natural grocers.  But hey, that’s entirely up to you; just remember, as the saying goes, you are what you eat.

For more information, check out this informative article from the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/us/31meat.html?pagewanted=all