There has been a running story for the past couple of weeks about a product called finely textured beef a.k.a pink slime. In essence, pink slime is a filler product made from small bits of meat created during the butchery and processing of beef. It is collected from abattoirs, soaked in ammonia to kill any E.coli (and just about anything else) mashed together into a paste and mixed into ground beef and ground beef products. In other words, meat, that is unfit for use in any other application and is so toxic that it has to be throughly soaked in ammonia, is collected, pacakged and slipped into a wide array of consumer products as a means to bulk up ground beef offerings.
This is by no means new. The world has been aware of finely textured beef products for years. In fact, companies like AFA Foods and Beef Products Inc. (BPI) have several plants across the US and do over $500 million in sales a year hawking pink slime. As they put it on their website:
BPI lean beef is a key ingredient in more than 20 billion meals served every year and is found in hundreds of consumer and food industry products, including:
- Fresh retail ground beef
- Fresh and frozen hamburger patties
- Low-fat hot dogs
- Taco meats
- Lunch meats
- Chili
- Beef sticks/snacks
- Sausages, pepperoni, and other encased meats
- Retail frozen entrees
- Meat balls
- Roast beef
- Canned foods
(From BPI website)
By most accounts, pink slime is in about 70% of all ground beef sold a supermarktets, in hotdogs, deli meats, frozen entres and canned foods. It is a main stay of fast food chains and bulk retailers that sell prepared foods to institutions such as hospitals, cafeterias and most notably, schools.
While the use of hard chemicals to process food may seem harsh, it is pretty standard. In fact, the USDA has a whole list of chemicals that can be used without downline reporting (other wise known as product labeling).
Pink slime has come under media scrutiny lately. Since the story broke in 2009, pink slime has been gaining notoriety. However, it has only been in the last few weeks as the story made the rounds online that it has really gained momentum. As a result, the FDA has removed its once glowing endorsement for pink slime use in school lunch meals. In another major reversal, the USDA who have a contract with BPI to provide over 7 million pounds of pink slime to be used in school lunch programs have allowed schools to opt out if they wish. Further, several large fast food chains including McDonalds, Burger King and Taco Bell have laid out plans to eliminate pink slime from their menu. The increased coverage has closed several of BPIs plants around the US and laid off several thousand workers.
More Great coverage of this story can be found here:
‘Pink slime’ is also used in cheese, reveals meat industry under fire for using caustic cleaning chemical
Also there is a great video of a the govenor of Nebraska defending pink slime.
The BPI website.
Pink Slime company seeks bankruptcy protection.
Whistle Blower Kit Foshee: Video clip starting at 35:50 confronts BPI legal team and highlights issues with BPIs use of amonia in food sanitation.
Lean Beef or Pink Slime: US Today coverage.
Revenge of the Pink Slime: coverage from Salon Magazine