Forget McDonalds, Pink Slime Found in 70% of Supermarket Ground Beef

[Buck]

There was a thread about the Pink Slime found in McDonalds meat a while back (here http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=255733), which absolutely disgusted me and made me not want to eat there ever again.

Well guess what? According to this article, the pink slime has been found in 70% of Supermarket Ground Beef! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/08/pink-slime-supermarket-ground-beef_n_1332429.html?ref=food

Fucking gross!

I'm doing a diet that revolves around mainly fat and protein, and ground beef has been essential to this diet. This worries me a lot. I also want to switch to grass-fed beef, but it's expensive, and I don't know where to find it.

[loochy]

There was a thread about the Pink Slime found in McDonalds meat a while back (here http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=255733), which absolutely disgusted me and made me not want to eat there ever again.

Well guess what? According to this article, the pink slime has been found in 70% of Supermarket Ground Beef! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/08/pink-slime-supermarket-ground-beef_n_1332429.html?ref=food

Fucking gross!

I'm doing a diet that revolves around mainly fat and protein, and ground beef has been essential to this diet. This worries me a lot. I also want to switch to grass-fed beef, but it's expensive, and I don't know where to find it.

Make your own lean ground beef out of round steak

[Bwana]

Again!?

[loochy]

Again!?

he acknowledged the Q

[MIAdragon]

There was a thread about the Pink Slime found in McDonalds meat a while back (here http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=255733), which absolutely disgusted me and made me not want to eat there ever again.

Well guess what? According to this article, the pink slime has been found in 70% of Supermarket Ground Beef! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/08/pink-slime-supermarket-ground-beef_n_1332429.html?ref=food

****ing gross!

I'm doing a diet that revolves around mainly fat and protein, and ground beef has been essential to this diet. This worries me a lot. I also want to switch to grass-fed beef, but it's expensive, and I don't know where to find it.

whole foods

[In58men]

Taste good to me lol

[Bwana]

he acknowledged the Q

Outstanding :D

[saphojunkie]

My god. I mean, you can't even trust raw beef to be raw beef? I think the hippies and the hunters need to get together and start getting us some real food again.

[Bwana]

My god. I mean, you can't even trust raw beef to be raw beef? I think the hippies and the hunters need to get together and start getting us some real food again.

I'm not sure what BBQ hippy would taste like?

[L.A. Chieffan]

Try sprouts, I made burgers the other night from there and they were awesome
I'd say trader Joe's too but I don't know for sure

[007]

Hopefully they stay away from ground turkey

[Hoover]

This is why I just buy a side of beef with a buddy.

[hometeam]

Just buy out of the butchers case, ground round and ground chuck they grind fresh from the meat. No pink shit.

[Predarat]

This pink shit is everywhere! Starting to remind me of Soylent Green.

[Setsuna]

I buy ground turkey anyway, so. MEH.

[KCUnited]

On a related note, how fake does that bacon look on that Wendy's Baconator?

[ct]

FYI that is the biggest bull shit media sensationism article I've read in awhile. Complete crap.

[Hog's Gone Fishin]

And people Eat sausage everyday, and Hot dogs. . Give me a break!

[FAX]

Unreal. The crazy part of this thing isn't that the manufacturers are willing to sell it or that people are willing to eat it, but that the FDA says it's food.

FAX

[unlurking]

Dude looks like he's perpetratin' some shit.

http://i.huffpost.com/gen/526590/thumbs/s-PINK-SLIME-large300.jpg

[Psyko Tek]

I'm not sure what BBQ hippy would taste like?

chicken?
probably pork

[Hog's Gone Fishin]

Unreal. The crazy part of this thing isn't that the manufacturers are willing to sell it or that people are willing to eat it, but that the FDA says it's food.

FAX

It is food Mr. Fax. It's real meat thats just been treated with ammonia. You know that smell from a urinal in Hooters.

[Psyko Tek]

There was a thread about the Pink Slime found in McDonalds meat a while back (here http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=255733), which absolutely disgusted me and made me not want to eat there ever again.

Well guess what? According to this article, the pink slime has been found in 70% of Supermarket Ground Beef! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/08/pink-slime-supermarket-ground-beef_n_1332429.html?ref=food

Fucking gross!

I'm doing a diet that revolves around mainly fat and protein, and ground beef has been essential to this diet. This worries me a lot. I also want to switch to grass-fed beef, but it's expensive, and I don't know where to find it.

my guesses trader joe'sa sprouts fresh and easy also claims organic beff
do not know if any are real

[FAX]

It is food Mr. Fax. It's real meat thats just been treated with ammonia. You know that smell from a urinal in Hooters.

Ah, yes ... it brings back fond memories from my youth when, every fall as the leaves began to turn golden and crimson in the waning sunlight, the entire family and I would don our boots and gloves, go out to the garden, and pick the ammonias to mix with our other stuff.

FAX

[Bugeater]

Anyone who is bothered by this should look at the ingredient lists of the other food they're buying, pretty much everything is full of chemicals and other fucked up shit.

And honestly, if it tastes good and won't kill me, I don't even give a damn what's in it.

[Phobia]

This is why I buy sides of beef. I know what's happening in the meat locker and I know where my cow came from.

[FAX]

Anyone who is bothered by this should look at the ingredient lists of the other food they're buying, pretty much everything is full of chemicals and other ****ed up shit.

And honestly, if it tastes good and won't kill me, I don't even give a damn what's in it.

This from a man who eats bugs.

So far as I'm concerned, my body is a temple. I just wouldn't feel right about stuffing my temple chock full of pink slime.

FAX

[Hog's Gone Fishin]

This is why I buy sides of beef. I know what's happening in the meat locker and I know where my cow came from.

ROFL You know what us farmers do to those sides of beef !

[Buck]

A guy I know sent off a bunch of emails to grocery stores and this is what he got back.

http://ketopia.com/hyvee-responds-to-inquiry-regarding-use-of-pink-slime/

[Buck]

This is why I buy sides of beef. I know what's happening in the meat locker and I know where my cow came from.

Sorry, I am an uninformed city person. What does side of beef mean?

[CoMoChief]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBkwUt-bqIo

this is fucking gross. How is this even legal to serve?

[Chiefaholic]

We buy a calf every year and have it processed around 800 lbs. I know the beef were eating is fresh and exactly what it was fed.

[Phobia]

Sorry, I am an uninformed city person. What does side of beef mean?

It means half a cow.

[FAX]

Sorry, I am an uninformed city person. What does side of beef mean?

They hunk up the cow in half ... right down the middle. After that's done, you have two sides ... a right side and a left side ... ergo, two sides.

Then, you can cook up a steak with a side of pasta.

I don't know where they get the sides of pasta.

FAX

[CoMoChief]

They hunk up the cow in half ... right down the middle. After that's done, you have two sides ... a right side and a left side ... ergo, two sides.

Then, you can cook up a steak with a side of pasta.

I don't know where they get the sides of pasta.

FAX

Hy-vee????

[Buck]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBkwUt-bqIo

this is fucking gross. How is this even legal to serve?

So fucking disgusting.

[Buck]

It means half a cow.

How long does it keep in the freezer?

[Easy 6]

This from a man who eats bugs.FAX

LMAO he's got ya there, Bug.

[FAX]

How long does it keep in the freezer?

Years. Unless you eat it first.

FAX

[headsnap]

Unreal. The crazy part of this thing isn't that the manufacturers are willing to sell it or that people are willing to eat it, but that the FDA says it's food.

FAX

I made the mistake of watching Food Inc. this morning... that was some expensive Netflix streaming!!!!

[alnorth]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBkwUt-bqIo

this is ****ing gross. How is this even legal to serve?

Just saw another "pink slime" story, its an epidemic.

Not the meat, I'm talking about the idiotic stories. The trimmings look gross because the dude is thrusting a hunk of biological matter at the viewer, not because its actually gross. Its not fit for human consumption, simply because the guy says it, not because there is any basis in fact for the crap he's saying whatsoever.

Its really not complicated. Either its beef, or its not. Either its protein, or its not. Want prime rib or top cuts? Fine, buy it, but there's nothing wrong with lower-grade ground beef, no matter where on the cow the stupid bovine muscle cells were growing.

This is a stupid story, mostly propagated by vegans who want to gross you out of eating beef at all. Want to call it "pink slime"? Fine. I'll call broccoli "Cat Barf". Seriously? We're perfectly fine with freaking sausage, but not this?

[Okie_Apparition]

These cows ain't drinking from some melting snow feed stream
nor is their feed free range

[MOhillbilly]

Butchered two five hundred pound milk and grass fed bulls a few months back. My friends this is livin, I dont care who ya are.

[Buck]

The washed with Ammonia thing is what bothers me. My meat shouldn't need to be washed with chemicals or have any preservatives in it. I'm buying beef, not fucking hot pockets.

[Buck]

Butchered two five hundred pound milk and grass fed bulls a few months back. My friends this is livin, I dont care who ya are.

You fed the bulls milk? Does that fatten them up more or something?

[alnorth]

The washed with Ammonia thing is what bothers me. My meat shouldn't need to be washed with chemicals or have any preservatives in it. I'm buying beef, not ****ing hot pockets.

If you actually eat ammonia, you'll get sick, and sue the processing company if you survive the experience.

Since that doesn't happen, there's obviously no problem with their sterilization procedure, except the kneejerk "eew" reaction you get when someone says the name of a substance you might use to clean your counter.

I hope you don't investigate the sterilization procedure too closely of other things you may be eating.

[MOhillbilly]

You fed the bulls milk? Does that fatten them up more or something?

Yes, its makes the meat come out very tender. Through the roof taste.

[Lonewolf Ed]

I'm not sure what BBQ hippy would taste like?

Barbecue sauce with a marijuana after taste?

[Valiant]

Every big name meat producer does this or something similar. I saw it done at a plant tour. They don't hide that they do it.

[Okie_Apparition]

They need to go back to small family farms, if they could afford to run them
pig confinement may stink, but large cattle feed lots are fucking digusting

[ReynardMuldrake]

I just think it's amazing how easily manipulated people are. The media starts calling beef fat 'pink slime' and everyone freaks out on cue. It's ridiculous. Has anyone here actually been to a meat packing plant or watch this stuff get made? You think it's SUPPOSED to look appetizing?

Next you'll be hearing about the school serving our children dihydrogen monoxide in our schools. Thousands of people die in it every year, and they're serving it to our kids! Oh no!!

[MOhillbilly]

Barbecue sauce with a marijuana after taste?

It tastes like dirt. Jus sayin.

[SPchief]

The washed with Ammonia thing is what bothers me. My meat shouldn't need to be washed with chemicals or have any preservatives in it. I'm buying beef, not fucking hot pockets.

How do you suggest that stores sell beef that don't have preservatives in it?

[Taco John]

I'm not sure what BBQ hippy would taste like?

granola and tofu. You've really got to dress it up with a good 24 hour Jack Daniels marinade.

[Buck]

Yeah it all disgusts me. I want to eat meats, not preservatives. At this point I haven't cut all foods with preservatives out of my diet, but eventually I want to eat 100% non-preservative food.

[Bump]

It's pretty scary what they are doing to us

[Imon Yourside]

Though BPI claims that pink slime is safer than conventional ground beef because of the ammonia treatment, tests conducted by NSLP between 2005 and 2009 have revealed that the meat-like matter routinely tests positive for salmonella at four times the rate of conventional beef. Ammonia is also a highly-corrosive poison that is known to cause respiratory illness and lung damage, liver problems, and cancer. The Chemical Encyclopedia says ammonia is "highly toxic" if swallowed

http://healthychild.org/issues/chemical-pop/ammonia/

"They've taken a processed product (ammonia), without labeling it, and added it to raw ground beef," said microbiologist Gerald Zirnstein recently to The Daily. "Science is the truth, and pink slime at this point in time is a fraudulent lie"

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/035255_pink_slime_USDA_school_lunches.html#ixzz1pAVTz2Xz

[Fishpicker]

eat snow geese. tastes better than beef. much leaner. has some fiber in there too

[btlook1]

We buy a calf every year and have it processed around 800 lbs. I know the beef were eating is fresh and exactly what it was fed.

Only way to go. Butchered my sons 4-h steer last year....he's tasting really good.
Cost me 700 to buy him then 800 feed bill then approx 500 processing. He weighed about 1200 when butchered...approx 700 or so pounds of meat..do the math approx 3bucks per pound...kinda expensive but very worth it. Grain fed is the only way to go.
BUck you live in a huge city...find a butcher shop and talk with them...bet they can get you hooked up for a price!

[ChiefMojo]

Some of you need to read-up... http://pinkslimeisamyth.com/

Damn Vegans and Hippies!

[tomahawk kid]

We buy our beef from a local farmer who pasture raises his cattle out of Lathrop, MO. A little more expensive, but the piece of mind (not to mention the quality of the beef) is huge.

[Lzen]

This is why I just buy a side of beef with a buddy.

This.

[Lzen]

We buy our beef from a local farmer who pasture raises his cattle out of Lathrop, MO. A little more expensive, but the piece of mind (not to mention the quality of the beef) is huge.

The quality of our farm grown beef and pork is way better than store bought. Just the other night the wife bought a couple steaks from Dillons (we have farm grown steaks in the freezer but she forgot to lay them out to defrost). Normally, Dillons steaks have been okay. But these were just terrible. I didn't even finish. I guess I'm getting spoiled with the farm grown meat.

And you haven't had bacon until you've tried farm grown. Mmmmmm, my mouth is watering just thinking of it. Yummy!

[Sofa King]

eat snow geese. tastes better than beef. much leaner. has some fiber in there too

http://www.mtv.com/onair/the_hills/season_3/assets/images/flipbooks/episodes/308/fb_01a.jpg

[warrior]

Call ghostbusters :rolleyes:

[Valiant]

Though BPI claims that pink slime is safer than conventional ground beef because of the ammonia treatment, tests conducted by NSLP between 2005 and 2009 have revealed that the meat-like matter routinely tests positive for salmonella at four times the rate of conventional beef. Ammonia is also a highly-corrosive poison that is known to cause respiratory illness and lung damage, liver problems, and cancer. The Chemical Encyclopedia says ammonia is "highly toxic" if swallowed

http://healthychild.org/issues/chemical-pop/ammonia/

"They've taken a processed product (ammonia), without labeling it, and added it to raw ground beef," said microbiologist Gerald Zirnstein recently to The Daily. "Science is the truth, and pink slime at this point in time is a fraudulent lie"

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/035255_pink_slime_USDA_school_lunches.html#ixzz1pAVTz2Xz


Anything is vast amounts is bad. Why don't cleaning ladies keel over dead daily with all the amonia the interact with and breath.

And I did not see the study breakdown for salmonella, but studies by groups like this generally are pretty basic. Go to bunch of grocery markets, buy the older meat and test. Then go to natural mom and pops places, buy fresh meat and test to compare. See 4x worse to get salmonella.

Most of these steps are used to get the meat to last longerin stores so the markets can sell them before going bad. If it were all natural across the board, meat would be outrageous priced.

[htismaqe]

eat snow geese. tastes better than beef. much leaner. has some fiber in there too

You're not supposed to eat the feathers!

[htismaqe]

Though BPI claims that pink slime is safer than conventional ground beef because of the ammonia treatment, tests conducted by NSLP between 2005 and 2009 have revealed that the meat-like matter routinely tests positive for salmonella at four times the rate of conventional beef. Ammonia is also a highly-corrosive poison that is known to cause respiratory illness and lung damage, liver problems, and cancer. The Chemical Encyclopedia says ammonia is "highly toxic" if swallowed

http://healthychild.org/issues/chemical-pop/ammonia/

"They've taken a processed product (ammonia), without labeling it, and added it to raw ground beef," said microbiologist Gerald Zirnstein recently to The Daily. "Science is the truth, and pink slime at this point in time is a fraudulent lie"

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/035255_pink_slime_USDA_school_lunches.html#ixzz1pAVTz2Xz

Ammonia is toxic, yes. It also doesn't remain in the NH3 form indefinitely.

You should read up on the natural nitrogen process.

[Frosty]

Ammonia is toxic, yes. It also doesn't remain in the NH3 form indefinitely.

You should read up on the natural nitrogen process.

Nothing like chemistry fail in the name of scary headlines, eh?

[Fish]

OMG guys!!1 We've been eating Yoga mats! I read it on Facebooks!!

[jidar]

Yeah it all disgusts me. I want to eat meats, not preservatives. At this point I haven't cut all foods with preservatives out of my diet, but eventually I want to eat 100% non-preservative food.

The preservatives are there so the food can be transported and kept more easily. What that means is that without the preservatives, it goes bad and becomes very bad for you more quickly. Which means that if you switched to a completely preservative free diet, you've increased your chances of being exposed to food that has bad consequences for your health.

****ing hippies and their movements though.

[Kerberos]

Just read this on Tony Gonzalez's facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/TonyGonzalez88


Tony Gonzalez

Tuesday

Just read that if u eat red meat daily u have a 13% chance more of dying. If u eat processed red meat (hot dog,bacon) its a 20% chance.


17Like · · Sha

[Fish]

Just read this on Tony Gonzalez's facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/TonyGonzalez88


Tony Gonzalez

Tuesday

Just read that if u eat red meat daily u have a 13% chance more of dying. If u eat processed red meat (hot dog,bacon) its a 20% chance.


17Like · · Sha

LOL... 13% chance more of dying huh? Sounds terrible.

I just read that if you live your life worrying about someone else's statistics on your chances of dying, you have a 8% chance more of dying...

[Frosty]

Just read this on Tony Gonzalez's facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/TonyGonzalez88


Tony Gonzalez

Tuesday

Just read that if u eat red meat daily u have a 13% chance more of dying. If u eat processed red meat (hot dog,bacon) its a 20% chance.


17Like · · Sha

Apparently Tony didn't take too many science courses at Cal. Or slept through the class on the day that they taught correlation doesn't equal causation.

Here's a nice takedown of the latest "OMG! Red meat will Kill you!" "study" (never mind that a pepperoni pizza or a supersized McD's meal counts as "red meat").

Will Eating Red Meat Kill You? (http://www.marksdailyapple.com/will-eating-red-meat-kill-you/#axzz1pDhaKHTL)

[Imon Yourside]

The preservatives are there so the food can be transported and kept more easily. What that means is that without the preservatives, it goes bad and becomes very bad for you more quickly. Which means that if you switched to a completely preservative free diet, you've increased your chances of being exposed to food that has bad consequences for your health.

****ing hippies and their movements though.

Ok I'll eat the meat without all the preservatives in it and you eat just the preservatives. Which one of us will die quicker?

[burt]

I enjoyed this thread so much.....so I went to BK and had a double cheese whooper for lunch!

[Valiant]

Ok I'll eat the meat without all the preservatives in it and you eat just the preservatives. Which one of us will die quicker?

Probably the one eating no preservatives. Unless you are klling and cooking right there on the spot your food will spoil faster and increase your chance of getting a sickness.

[Fish]

Ok I'll eat the meat without all the preservatives in it and you eat just the preservatives. Which one of us will die quicker?

You can't necessarily ask that question without declaring what you mean by "preservatives". Because preservatives themselves don't equate to death. Most generally it's the contrary.

Regarding the "Pink slime", the only preservative mentioned is ammonium hydroxide gas. It's in a diluted gaseous form that is safe for consumption and has been in use as a food preservative for longer than we've been alive. And it's used in much much more than just mechanically separated meat. People freak because it contains the word ammonium, which reminds them of awful smelling household cleaner ammonia.

The FDA has done countless studies on ammonium hydroxide and its application as a food preservative. And every study has reached the same conclusion:

The FDA (1973, 2003) determined that concentrations of ammonia and ammonium compounds normally present in food do not suggest a health risk; ammonia and ammonium ions are recognized to be integral components of normal metabolic processes.

It is useful to note that ammonia is readily absorbed by the body and is produced in moderately high quantities ca. 4 – 8 grams/day in the gut of humans. It has been estimated that up to 17 grams of ammonia are produced in humans daily (WHO, 1986). Ammonia is excreted primarily as urea and urinary ammonium compounds through the kidneys.

Ammonium has not been shown to be carcinogenic.

Ammonium ions are essential to metabolism of animals, plants, and microorganisms
Nitrogen cycling is a critical to life on earth. Ammonia ions play a crucial role in this cycling because of their use in all life. Basic to all life are proteins comprised of some twenty different amino acids. In plants and microorganism, most of these amino acids are synthesized from organic or inorganic nitrogen including ammonia. In humans and other animals, a significant number of amino acids are not synthesized but are considered essential and must be consumed as intact amino acids.

It becomes clear that ammonia is one of the major metabolites of the human body. Both humans and their constituent microorganisms produce gram quantities of ammonia that are used internally or excreted as urea or other forms. Estimates are that up to 17 grams of ammonia are ingested and/or metabolized each day by the human. The amount of ingested ammonia from additives has been estimated at less than 20 milligrams/day or 0.02 g. This is approximately 850 times less than the amounts produced endogenously in humans and exogenously by intestinal bacteria. Regulatory status of ammonium hydroxide is well established with the material being considered GRAS as used under GMPs. The compound is approved for use in the United States, EU, Australia, New Zealand, and many other countries and entities.

(The source also has a long list of all the products you buy that contain ammonium hydroxide as a preservative.)

Source: http://www.beefproducts.com/ISU-Ammonium.pdf

The preservatives discussed in the study T. Gonzalez was referencing concerning the 13% and 20% death increase are simply nitrate/nitrite preservatives. Here's a good description of why it's used in meat:

What Nitrite Does in Meat
Nitrite in meat greatly delays development of botulinal toxin (botulism), develops cured meat flavor and color, retards development of rancidity and off-odors and off-flavors during storage, inhibits development of warmed-over flavor, and preserves flavors of spices, smoke, etc.

Adding nitrite to meat is only part of the curing process. Ordinary table salt (sodium chloride) is added because of its effect on flavor. Sugar is added to reduce the harshness of salt. Spices and other flavorings often are added to achieve a characteristic "brand" flavor. Most, but not all, cured meat products are smoked after the curing process to impart a smoked meat flavor.

Source: http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/nutrition/DJ0974.html

That's your common meat preservatives.

And here's the facts on the toxicity of that:

It has been reported that people normally consume more nitrates from their vegetable intake than from the cured meat products they eat. Spinach, beets, radishes, celery, and cabbages are among the vegetables that generally contain very high concentrations of nitrates (J. Food Sci., 52:1632). The nitrate content of vegetables is affected by maturity, soil conditions, fertilizer, variety, etc. It has been estimated that 10 percent of the human exposure to nitrite in the digestive tract comes from cured meats and 90 percent comes from vegetables and other sources. Nitrates can be reduced to nitrites by certain microorganisms present in foods and in the gastrointestinal tract. This has resulted in nitrite toxicity in infants fed vegetables with a high nitrate level. No evidence currently exists implicating nitrite itself as a carcinogen.

To obtain 22 milligrams of sodium nitrite per kilogram of body weight (a lethal dose), a 154-pound adult would have to consume, at once, 18.57 pounds of cured meat product containing 200 ppm sodium nitrite (because nitrite is rapidly converted to nitric oxide during the curing process, the 18.57 pound figure should be tripled at least). Even if a person could eat that amount of cured meat, salt, not nitrite, probably would be the toxic factor.

But hey... all that info is much less exciting than irrelevant media scares that you can Facebook to all your gullible friends...

[Donger]

It's pretty scary what they are doing to us

Who is "they"?

[Bugeater]

Who is "they"?
I just paid $3.85 for gas, dickweed.

[Donger]

I just paid $3.85 for gas, dickweed.

So?

[Fish]

Who is "they"?

If you have to ask... you're obviously one of "them"......

[BIG_DADDY]

This thread is hillarious. All I want is food labeled correctly but that seems to be a huge problem. Frankly I am all for you slime eaters having the right to dine on that exclusively if that is what you want. All I want is to know what I am eating so I have the freedom to make choices for myself. The very fact that the USDA bought tons of this stuff to feed kids in schools tells me all I need to know.

[Imon Yourside]

This thread is hillarious. All I want is food labeled correctly but that seems to be a huge problem. Frankly I am all for you slime eaters having the right to dine on that exclusively if that is what you want. All I want is to know what I am eating so I have the freedom to make choices for myself. The very fact that the USDA bought tons of this stuff to feed kids in schools tells me all I need to know.

I know right, it's almost as if were at Guyana and these idiots are telling us the Kool aid is USDA approved so we should drink it. If you don't want to drink it you're clearly insane.

[Fish]

This thread is hillarious. All I want is food labeled correctly but that seems to be a huge problem. Frankly I am all for you slime eaters having the right to dine on that exclusively if that is what you want. All I want is to know what I am eating so I have the freedom to make choices for myself. The very fact that the USDA bought tons of this stuff to feed kids in schools tells me all I need to know.

"You slime eaters"? LMAO....:facepalm:

You've had the "right" to know what you're eating for most of your adult life. They've been including lean finely textured beef with beef products since the beginning of factory meat plants. We've been eating it our entire lives. I know you like to consider yourself some kind of food purist, but I assure you that you've eaten plenty of what you like to call "pink slime". Except that derogatory term has only been around for a few years. And only when someone gave it a scary yucky sounding name, did people start to give a shit about this insignificant issue. But the fact is, this lean finely textured beef is 100% beef. Pink Slime is 100% beef. The only difference in lean finely textured beef and what you would consider regular beef, is that the lean finely textured beef has been run through a mechanical separater. When the packing plant hacks a steak off a side of beef, the small pieces of meat that are too small to be a steak, or include fat or tendons, are thrown into a mechanical separater. All it does is separate the meat from the fat/tendons. It doesn't add anything or change it in any way. Then they spray it with ammonium hydroxide gas to kill any bacteria, just like they also do with the regular beef or millions of other food products. Which is completely harmless and actually produced by the body each day in higher quantities than you would ingest. Read my post above. In one of the links, there's a list of all the food products that do the exact same thing with ammonium hydroxide.

And because so many ignorant parents got up in an emotional Facebook fueled tizzy over it, the USDA actually released a statement saying "Hey, you guys are idiots, this stuff is perfectly safe and is nothing but beef. But you don't have to buy it. You're perfectly welcome to buy the more expensive stuff that doesn't include any trimmings."

Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-57398066-10391704/usda-schools-can-decide-if-pink-slime-will-be-served-in-school-lunch/

Beef Product Inc. stresses that its product is 100 percent lean beef and is approved by a series of industry experts. The company's new website, pinkslimeisamyth.com, rebuts some common criticisms of the product ("Myth 4: Boneless lean beef trimmings are produced from inedible meat").

The National Meat Association also has joined the fight, disputing claims that the product is made from "scraps destined for pet food" and other claims. The industry group also said that ammonium hydroxide is used in baked goods, puddings and other processed foods.

Association CEO Barry Carpenter, who has visited BPI plants and watched the process, said critics don't seem to have the facts.

"It's one of those things. It's the aesthetics of it that just gets people's attention," Carpenter said. "And in this case, it's not even legitimate aesthetics of it. It's a perception of what it is."

Now guess what's going to happen? Schools are going to have to raise the prices of lunches because the beef is now more expensive. Parents are going to start bitching at that.

This is nothing but media sensationalism, and a nation of gullible self exciting idiots.

[Saulbadguy]

Yeah it all disgusts me. I want to eat meats, not preservatives. At this point I haven't cut all foods with preservatives out of my diet, but eventually I want to eat 100% non-preservative food.

:LOL:

[BIG_DADDY]

"You slime eaters"? LMAO....:facepalm:

You've had the "right" to know what you're eating for most of your adult life. They've been including lean finely textured beef with beef products since the beginning of factory meat plants. We've been eating it our entire lives. I know you like to consider yourself some kind of food purist, but I assure you that you've eaten plenty of what you like to call "pink slime". Except that derogatory term has only been around for a few years. And only when someone gave it a scary yucky sounding name, did people start to give a shit about this insignificant issue. But the fact is, this lean finely textured beef is 100% beef. Pink Slime is 100% beef. The only difference in lean finely textured beef and what you would consider regular beef, is that the lean finely textured beef has been run through a mechanical separater. When the packing plant hacks a steak off a side of beef, the small pieces of meat that are too small to be a steak, or include fat or tendons, are thrown into a mechanical separater. All it does is separate the meat from the fat/tendons. It doesn't add anything or change it in any way. Then they spray it with ammonium hydroxide gas to kill any bacteria, just like they also do with the regular beef or millions of other food products. Which is completely harmless and actually produced by the body each day in higher quantities than you would ingest. Read my post above. In one of the links, there's a list of all the food products that do the exact same thing with ammonium hydroxide.

And because so many ignorant parents got up in an emotional Facebook fueled tizzy over it, the USDA actually released a statement saying "Hey, you guys are idiots, this stuff is perfectly safe and is nothing but beef. But you don't have to buy it. You're perfectly welcome to buy the more expensive stuff that doesn't include any trimmings."

Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-57398066-10391704/usda-schools-can-decide-if-pink-slime-will-be-served-in-school-lunch/



Now guess what's going to happen? Schools are going to have to raise the prices of lunches because the beef is now more expensive. Parents are going to start bitching at that.

This is nothing but media sensationalism, and a nation of gullible self exciting idiots.

The cuts are nothing but waste meat, the pieces nobody wants. The industry makes untold millions turning that waste product into slime and selling it to us. Big money controls the media and I can see you buy into everything they are selling. All I want as a consumer is to know what my family is eating. Big Food, Mosanto ect. have been fighting this freedom and spend tons of money to buy politicians like Obama who just appointed one of their top executives to the FDA after promising voters to label all food. IS it any wonder people don't trust the FDA and the USDA? Why is empowering consumer something you are against? I am all for your right to consume slime, why won't you reciprocate and let me make my own decisions? Oh that's right, everyone that doesn't agree with you is an idiot. Nevermind.

[BIG_DADDY]

Yeah it all disgusts me. I want to eat meats, not preservatives. At this point I haven't cut all foods with preservatives out of my diet, but eventually I want to eat 100% non-preservative food.

IMHO it has never been more important to source your food. It's all good. YOu know exactly what you are getting and you empower small farmers.

[Fish]

The cuts are nothing but waste meat, the pieces nobody wants. The industry makes untold millions turning that waste product into slime and selling it to us. Big money controls the media and I can see you buy into everything they are selling. All I want as a consumer is to know what my family is eating. Big Food, Mosanto ect. have been fighting this freedom and spend tons of money to buy politicians like Obama who just appointed one of their top executives to the FDA after promising voters to label all food. IS it any wonder people don't trust the FDA and the USDA? Why is empowering consumer something you are against? I am all for your right to consume slime, why won't you reciprocate and let me make my own decisions? Oh that's right, everyone that doesn't agree with you is an idiot. Nevermind.

Educate yourself. Seriously.

It is not waste meat. That's absurd. And it's not the pieces nobody wants. It's the pieces with fat in them. That's the only difference. The only difference between choice grade steak and lean finely textured beef could be how close it happened to be to the bone. When you process beef, it doesn't all fall off the bones in nice convenient T-bone shapes. Pieces too small to be used as a steak/roast/etc. are ground into ground beef. Those pieces that have excess fat on them, are sent to the mechanical separater to remove the fat so the meat isn't too fatty. Then, just the meat part that was separated is added back to the rest of the meat that didn't have excess fat. That's how it works, and that's been how it has worked since the invention of the meat plant.

This has absolutely nothing to do with empowering the consumer. The consumer is not being withheld anything in this situation. Feel free to point out the opposite, if you believe that. It's 100% about educating the consumer, instead of being outraged by something you don't understand at all. You're still free to make your own decisions. Buy ground choice steak that you can watch the butcher grind. You're guaranteed no trimmings. Schools can choose not to use any beef with lean finely textured beef. They're not being forced to do anything.

[jiveturkey]

I've educated myself and I'm sticking to local/organic/non-processed/non GMO whenever I can. It costs a great deal more but it's worth it IMO.

I rarely even eat cow anymore. I buy bison.

[BIG_DADDY]

Educate yourself. Seriously.

It is not waste meat. That's absurd. And it's not the pieces nobody wants. It's the pieces with fat in them. That's the only difference. The only difference between choice grade steak and lean finely textured beef could be how close it happened to be to the bone. When you process beef, it doesn't all fall off the bones in nice convenient T-bone shapes. Pieces too small to be used as a steak/roast/etc. are ground into ground beef. Those pieces that have excess fat on them, are sent to the mechanical separater to remove the fat so the meat isn't too fatty. Then, just the meat part that was separated is added back to the rest of the meat that didn't have excess fat. That's how it works, and that's been how it has worked since the invention of the meat plant.

This has absolutely nothing to do with empowering the consumer. The consumer is not being withheld anything in this situation. Feel free to point out the opposite, if you believe that. It's 100% about educating the consumer, instead of being outraged by something you don't understand at all. You're still free to make your own decisions. Buy ground choice steak that you can watch the butcher grind. You're guaranteed no trimmings. Schools can choose not to use any beef with lean finely textured beef. They're not being forced to do anything.

You know this whole omniscient facade you like projecting on everyone is really getting to be a tired act. Pink slime is what it is and anyone with an IQ above 12 and few minutes can figure it out. Consumers deserve to know that treated meat is being added to their regular meat, period. I think restaurants should be required to notify their patrons if they are serving up slime as well. I am also for the labeling of GMO foods and farmed fish. I have no interest in you, the FDA or the USDA educating me on what you consider safe. I just want to know what I am getting so I can make my own decisions.

[Stewie]

You know this whole omniscient facade you like projecting on everyone is really getting to be a tired act. Pink slime is what it is and anyone with an IQ above 12 and few minutes can figure it out. Consumers deserve to know that treated meat is being added to their regular meat, period. I think restaurants should be required to notify their patrons if they are serving up slime as well. I am also for the labeling of GMO foods and farmed fish. I have no interest in you, the FDA or the USDA educating me on what you consider safe. I just want to know what I am getting so I can make my own decisions.

Do you want the amount of rat shit, mouse shit, deer shit, squirrel shit, raccoon shit, opossum shit in your daily organic intake on the label too? Oh, let's not forget the "organic" foods that have killed hundreds of people because "we thought it was pristine and pure!... Sorry, we just thought since it was local and organic it was THE BEST!!!"

[BIG_DADDY]

Do you want the amount of rat shit, mouse shit, deer shit, squirrel shit, raccoon shit, opossum shit in your daily organic intake on the label too? Oh, let's not forget the "organic" foods that have killed hundreds of people because "we thought it was pristine and pure!... Sorry, we just thought since it was local and organic it was THE BEST!!!"

That's a pretty weak argument against labeling to the best of our ability. Show me again where I said just because something was labeled organic it made it the best. I have always said I like sourcing to the best of my ability but that has nothing to do with labeling to the best of our ability and empowering consumers to make their own decisions. The very fact that someone would argue against that is disturbing.

[Stewie]

That's a pretty weak argument against labeling to the best of our ability. Show me again where I said just because something was labeled organic it made it the best. I have always said I like sourcing to the best of my ability but that has nothing to do with labeling to the best of our ability and empowering consumers to make their own decisions. The very fact that someone would argue against that is disturbing.

That's the most recursive argument I've ever seen. Carry on with whatever thoughts happen in your mind. It's heathy.

[Valiant]

You know this whole omniscient facade you like projecting on everyone is really getting to be a tired act. Pink slime is what it is and anyone with an IQ above 12 and few minutes can figure it out. Consumers deserve to know that treated meat is being added to their regular meat, period. I think restaurants should be required to notify their patrons if they are serving up slime as well. I am also for the labeling of GMO foods and farmed fish. I have no interest in you, the FDA or the USDA educating me on what you consider safe. I just want to know what I am getting so I can make my own decisions.

All meat processing plants have been doing this forever.. If you go tour one, they will show you how it is done.. They do not hide about it, it is not dangerous.. Fish is correct about the media over-sentualizing it and giving it a new name of pink slime..

And he is correct that the only thing that is going to happen is raising prices.. Yours and others people falsehood outrage is actually going to help the meat companies, they now have a reason to raise prices.. Meat prices will get to go up across the board now.. Schools, retail, foodservice..

I guess I should be happy, I will get a bigger year end bonus.. I guess I will go buy some more stock and donger some profit in...

[BIG_DADDY]

That's the most recursive argument I've ever seen. Carry on with whatever thoughts happen in your mind. It's heathy.

Well my whole point was nothing more than labeling and empowering consumers. I am all for Fish eating all the slime he wants after all we are talking about the same guy who was head over heals about the McRib coming back. I am not really interested in his take on what I should be allowed to know about what I am eating.

[BIG_DADDY]

All meat processing plants have been doing this forever.. If you go tour one, they will show you how it is done.. They do not hide about it, it is not dangerous.. Fish is correct about the media over-sentualizing it and giving it a new name of pink slime..

And he is correct that the only thing that is going to happen is raising prices.. Yours and others people falsehood outrage is actually going to help the meat companies, they now have a reason to raise prices.. Meat prices will get to go up across the board now.. Schools, retail, foodservice..

I guess I should be happy, I will get a bigger year end bonus.. I guess I will go buy some more stock and donger some profit in...

So not being able to sell waste product is going to increase the bottom line? Interesting.

Fortunately for me I source most of my meat right down to seeing how it is raised and know the butcher. IMO that is totally the way to go when possible. Great product, great price.

[Valiant]

So not being able to sell waste product is going to increase the bottom line? Interesting.

Fortunately for me I source most of my meat right down to seeing how it is raised and know the butcher. IMO that is totally the way to go when possible. Great product, great price.

Depends what you consider waste product. If it is other parts of meat that are centrifuged into a gel and then pumped back into other meats then I guess so..

Great that you can afford to buy from small producers, most of the population will not want to pay the price. Hence why it is done..

This outrage will only be an opportunity for companies to artificially raise prices.. Just like, if there is a warning that a terror attack might happen or a tropical storm forming will raise gas prices even if nothing happens..

And of course it will be a reason to raise prices, all of these companies will not slaughter more animals for increase demand in all natural meats, they will just raise the price like in gas. Then when it dies down, the price will still stay up and they will make more on the injected meats..

Don't let your kids use lip/chap stick.. Stuff in that could kill them.. Actually, now that I think of it, most items that are not homemade will kill you if you just read the ingredients..

[BIG_DADDY]

Great that you can afford to buy from small producers, most of the population will not want to pay the price. Hence why it is done..

..

Small community networking with the right group is badass. It doesn't necessarily mean you will pay more either. I pay less than half for fully sourced meat in Southern Oregon than I would pay if I went to the store here in NorCal and just bought something labeled organic. I love all the wild meats I get there too and they are very reasonable. You live in a really populated area though it is just downright frusteration and expensive.

[Stewie]

Well my whole point was nothing more than labeling and empowering consumers. I am all for Fish eating all the slime he wants after all we are talking about the same guy who was head over heals about the McRib coming back. I am not really interested in his take on what I should be allowed to know about what I am eating.

McDonald's doesn't serve beef with pink slime. Grow your own food and you're golden. Buy from a "trusted" source and all bets are off.

[BIG_DADDY]

McDonald's doesn't serve beef with pink slime. Grow your own food and you're golden. Buy from a "trusted" source and all bets are off.

I never said they did I was just refering to the fact that Fish will eat anything.

[Stewie]

I never said they did I was just refering to the fact that Fish will eat anything.

And so do you. In fact, if you eat local there are no regulations regarding safety. The biggest food contaminations in recent years are animals shitting in large organic vegetable farms and killing children. Remember the "organic" apple juice full of deer shit? Yeah, feed that to your kid.

[BIG_DADDY]

And so do you. In fact, if you eat local there are no regulations regarding safety. The biggest food contaminations in recent years are animals shitting in large organic vegetable farms and killing children. Remember the "organic" apple juice full of deer shit? Yeah, feed that to your kid.

I will, thanks.

[Bugeater]

lol

[Fish]

So now meat packing plants are losing jobs. Beef prices are on the rise already, and will soon get worse. It's almost over $4/lb here already. And on top of that, meat will now be much fattier and actually worse for you, considering the resulting increased risk of E. Coli as well. Schools who actually follow through with their self-imposed ban of finely textured beef are looking at a 16% increase in the price of school lunches(LOL, that should go over well...). All thanks to ignorant idiots who allow the media to frighten them with scary made-up words for foods they've been obliviously eating for their entire lives...

Govs tour Neb. beef plant to see 'pink slime'
(http://news.yahoo.com/govs-tour-neb-beef-plant-see-pink-slime-203237190.html)
SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Neb. (AP) — Governors of three states got up close with "pink slime" Thursday, touching and examining treated beef at a plant and eating hamburgers made with it in a bid to persuade grossed-out consumers and grocery stores the product is safe to consume.

The three governors and two lieutenant governors spent about a half hour learning about the process of creating finely-textured lean beef in a tour of the main plant that makes the product, then blasted the media for scaring consumers with a moniker coined by critics.

"If you called it finely textured lean beef, would we be here?" asked Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback. Several other leaders echoed his comments as they tried to smooth over consumer concerns about the product.

Beef Products, the main producer of the cheap lean beef made from fatty bits of meat left over from other cuts, has drawn scrutiny over concerns about the ammonium hydroxide it treats meat with to change the beef's acidity and kill bacteria. The company suspended operations at plants in Texas, Kansas and Iowa this week, affecting 650 jobs, but defends its product as safe.

The politicians who toured the plant — Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Brownback, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, Nebraska Lt. Gov. Rick Sheehy and South Dakota Lt. Gov. Matt Michels— all agree with the industry view that the beef has been unfairly maligned and mislabeled and issued a joint statement earlier saying the product is safe.

"Why are we here today defending a company that has a rather sterling record dealing with making a food product that is very much needed in this country in a very safe manner? Why are we here today?" Perry said.

The officials spent about 20 minutes going over the production process in a separate room at the plant with Craig Letch, the company's director of quality assurance, viewing and handling more than a dozen slabs of raw meat and the processed, finished product laid out on cutting boards on a round wooden table.

The officials asked about the added ammonia, which Letch said is used as an extra safety precaution against E. Coli.

"What we're doing with ammonium hydroxide is directly targeting those specific microorganisms that could affect human health. It is nothing more than something to ensure consumer safety," Letch said as the politicians bent over the raw cuts of beef.

The officials donned hard hats, hair nets and goggles for a brief walking tour through the facility. Workers manned conveyor belts of meat cuts that ran from one side of the room to the other in the chilled room; the ammonium hydroxide treatment process was not visible; plant officials say that's because it binds with moisture in the meat in an aerated process.

Afterward, Perry, Branstad and others ate burgers made from the plant's meat at a news conference.

"It's lean. It's good. It's nutritious," Branstad said as he polished off a patty, sans bun.

Larry Smith, with the Institute for Crisis Management public relations firm, said he's not sure the makers of the product — including Cargill and BPI — will
be able to overcome the public stigma against their product at this point. "I can't think of a single solitary message that a manufacturer could use that would resonate with anybody right now," Smith said.

Russell Cross, a former administrator of the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, said the product is getting a bad rap from a food safety standpoint.
"I'm not saying it's perfectly safe. Nothing is perfectly safe. All food is going to have bacteria in it. But this product has never been in question for safety," he said.

Cross said that ammonia is just one tool designed to reduce bacteria and help make the food safer. The process Cargill uses, by comparison, uses citric acid to achieve similar results.

The finished product contains only a trace of ammonia, as do many other foods, and it's meant just to be an additional "hurdle for the pathogens," said Cross, who is now head of the Department of Animal Science at Texas A&M University.

The ammonium hydroxide BPI uses is also used in baked goods, puddings and other processed foods.

National Meat Association spokesman Jeremy Russell said if consumers insist on eliminating the product from ground beef, prices will go up and lean beef trimmings will have to be imported to replace it. The process of creating lean, finely textured beef yields about 12 to 15 pounds of additional meat per animal.

Russell said the outcry has already hurt BPI and other meat companies, and could eventually hurt the price that ranchers and feedlots receive for cattle.
BPI did get some good news Wednesday when Iowa-based grocer Hy-Vee said it would offer beef with and without pink slime because some consumers demanded the option. But larger grocery store chains, such as Kroger, have stuck with their decisions to stop offering beef with pink slime.

The real test may come later this year when school districts purchase meat from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for next school year. The USDA said earlier this month that it would give school districts a choice between 95 percent lean beef that contains pink slime and less-lean beef without it.
Russell said school districts will have to decide whether they're willing to spend roughly 16 percent more for beef without pink slime.

The USDA this year is contracted to buy 111.5 million pounds of ground beef for the National School Lunch Program. About 7 million pounds of that is from BPI.

[mlyonsd]

So now meat packing plants are losing jobs. Beef prices are on the rise already, and will soon get worse. It's almost over $4/lb here already. And on top of that, meat will now be much fattier and actually worse for you, considering the resulting increased risk of E. Coli as well. Schools who actually follow through with their self-imposed ban of finely textured beef are looking at a 16% increase in the price of school lunches(LOL, that should go over well...). All thanks to ignorant idiots who allow the media to frighten them with scary made-up words for foods they've been obliviously eating for their entire lives...


Been on the market for 20 years. Safer than regular ground beef.

Perfect example of how the media works and how ignorant the common American is.

[L.A. Chieffan]

Id rather pay extra

[Hoover]

As a free market conservative I should have the right to purchase beef without this stuff in it. That is all.

Look, the country is becoming more interested in whole foods. The defense of pink slime counters the direction of the country IMO. We should know what we are putting into our bodies. heck, some people have even gone holistic with their pet food.

[sedated]

As a free market conservative I should have the right to purchase beef without this stuff in it. That is all.

Look, the country is becoming more interested in whole foods. The defense of pink slime counters the direction of the country IMO. We should know what we are putting into our bodies. heck, some people have even gone holistic with their pet food.

Shouldn't that go both ways? What if I want to get my beef for $1 less a pound if I think its just as safe and tasty.

[jiveturkey]

Shouldn't that go both ways? What if I want to get my beef for $1 less a pound if I think its just as safe and tasty.

I believe that you should have the right to eat the pink slime if you want.

[Hoover]

I believe that you should have the right to eat the pink slime if you want.
Yep, have at it Sedated.

Grill up some slime burgers.

[jiveturkey]

Just tell us what's in the food and then let us decide.

If it's cheaper to eat the "finely textured lean beef" then I'm sure a lot of people will continue to buy it.

I'm willing to pay more. I just want to know what's in my food.

[Hoover]

Just because I don't eat SpaghettiOs, Hot Dogs, or Pink Slime burgers doesn't mean you can't. I also refuse to eat gas station food, except from Casey's.

I have a problem with what some governors and other government officials are doing. If they want to come out and say that the pink slime is safe i'm cool with that. But the all out defense of a product is a bit much. Next thing you know governor of states with Toyota Plants will be rolled out there defending the product when they get some bad PR like they did a few years ago. Its the role of BPI to defend its product, not our elected officials.

[ArrowheadHawk]

What a bunch of idiots in this thread. 100% beef is still 100% beef. It's not like they are including the internal organs or anything like that.

[jidar]

Oh god no! Not pink slime!!!
http://uranus.ckt.net/~bmcclen/hysteria.gif

[Fish]

Just tell us what's in the food and then let us decide.

If it's cheaper to eat the "finely textured lean beef" then I'm sure a lot of people will continue to buy it.

I'm willing to pay more. I just want to know what's in my food.

They've done that for years though. There's FDA regulations that force food manufacturers to tell you exactly everything that's included, and it's been that way for some time. It's called the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. People just haven't given a shit about finely textured lean beef until somebody gave it a scary icky sounding name that has absolutely nothing to do with the actual contents. I've seen critics of this claim that the industry has been trying to hide the fact that it uses finely textured lean beef. But they haven't. They never did. Because there's absolutely nothing to hide.

There is no "slime" in finely textured lean beef. Because it's nothing but 100% beef that had to be mechanically separated from the fat to make it lean. They're not adding anything that magically transforms it from 100% beef to "slime". I challenge you to show the opposite. You keep saying you just want to know what's in it. Well, it's beef. That's all that's in it. The fact that it went through a machine doesn't change that. It's the exact same meat, it just requires a machine to be separated from the fat. I'm just stunned that people somehow see this as a completely separate product. It's no different than cutting your corn off the cob by hand, or running it through a corn kerneler machine. Would you consider corn run through a kerneler machine to be "waste corn"?

Your willingness to pay more isn't getting you better meat. You're simply paying for a more time consuming production process of the same quality meat. And in fact, you'd be getting meat with a much higher fat content, and a much greater risk of carrying bacteria like E. Coli.

[Pitt Gorilla]

So now meat packing plants are losing jobs. Beef prices are on the rise already, and will soon get worse. It's almost over $4/lb here already. And on top of that, meat will now be much fattier and actually worse for you, considering the resulting increased risk of E. Coli as well. Schools who actually follow through with their self-imposed ban of finely textured beef are looking at a 16% increase in the price of school lunches(LOL, that should go over well...). All thanks to ignorant idiots who allow the media to frighten them with scary made-up words for foods they've been obliviously eating for their entire lives...

Govs tour Neb. beef plant to see 'pink slime'
(http://news.yahoo.com/govs-tour-neb-beef-plant-see-pink-slime-203237190.html)
SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Neb. (AP) — Governors of three states got up close with "pink slime" Thursday, touching and examining treated beef at a plant and eating hamburgers made with it in a bid to persuade grossed-out consumers and grocery stores the product is safe to consume.

The three governors and two lieutenant governors spent about a half hour learning about the process of creating finely-textured lean beef in a tour of the main plant that makes the product, then blasted the media for scaring consumers with a moniker coined by critics.

"If you called it finely textured lean beef, would we be here?" asked Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback. Several other leaders echoed his comments as they tried to smooth over consumer concerns about the product.

Beef Products, the main producer of the cheap lean beef made from fatty bits of meat left over from other cuts, has drawn scrutiny over concerns about the ammonium hydroxide it treats meat with to change the beef's acidity and kill bacteria. The company suspended operations at plants in Texas, Kansas and Iowa this week, affecting 650 jobs, but defends its product as safe.

The politicians who toured the plant — Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Brownback, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, Nebraska Lt. Gov. Rick Sheehy and South Dakota Lt. Gov. Matt Michels— all agree with the industry view that the beef has been unfairly maligned and mislabeled and issued a joint statement earlier saying the product is safe.

"Why are we here today defending a company that has a rather sterling record dealing with making a food product that is very much needed in this country in a very safe manner? Why are we here today?" Perry said.

The officials spent about 20 minutes going over the production process in a separate room at the plant with Craig Letch, the company's director of quality assurance, viewing and handling more than a dozen slabs of raw meat and the processed, finished product laid out on cutting boards on a round wooden table.

The officials asked about the added ammonia, which Letch said is used as an extra safety precaution against E. Coli.

"What we're doing with ammonium hydroxide is directly targeting those specific microorganisms that could affect human health. It is nothing more than something to ensure consumer safety," Letch said as the politicians bent over the raw cuts of beef.

The officials donned hard hats, hair nets and goggles for a brief walking tour through the facility. Workers manned conveyor belts of meat cuts that ran from one side of the room to the other in the chilled room; the ammonium hydroxide treatment process was not visible; plant officials say that's because it binds with moisture in the meat in an aerated process.

Afterward, Perry, Branstad and others ate burgers made from the plant's meat at a news conference.

"It's lean. It's good. It's nutritious," Branstad said as he polished off a patty, sans bun.

Larry Smith, with the Institute for Crisis Management public relations firm, said he's not sure the makers of the product — including Cargill and BPI — will
be able to overcome the public stigma against their product at this point. "I can't think of a single solitary message that a manufacturer could use that would resonate with anybody right now," Smith said.

Russell Cross, a former administrator of the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, said the product is getting a bad rap from a food safety standpoint.
"I'm not saying it's perfectly safe. Nothing is perfectly safe. All food is going to have bacteria in it. But this product has never been in question for safety," he said.

Cross said that ammonia is just one tool designed to reduce bacteria and help make the food safer. The process Cargill uses, by comparison, uses citric acid to achieve similar results.

The finished product contains only a trace of ammonia, as do many other foods, and it's meant just to be an additional "hurdle for the pathogens," said Cross, who is now head of the Department of Animal Science at Texas A&M University.

The ammonium hydroxide BPI uses is also used in baked goods, puddings and other processed foods.

National Meat Association spokesman Jeremy Russell said if consumers insist on eliminating the product from ground beef, prices will go up and lean beef trimmings will have to be imported to replace it. The process of creating lean, finely textured beef yields about 12 to 15 pounds of additional meat per animal.

Russell said the outcry has already hurt BPI and other meat companies, and could eventually hurt the price that ranchers and feedlots receive for cattle.
BPI did get some good news Wednesday when Iowa-based grocer Hy-Vee said it would offer beef with and without pink slime because some consumers demanded the option. But larger grocery store chains, such as Kroger, have stuck with their decisions to stop offering beef with pink slime.

The real test may come later this year when school districts purchase meat from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for next school year. The USDA said earlier this month that it would give school districts a choice between 95 percent lean beef that contains pink slime and less-lean beef without it.
Russell said school districts will have to decide whether they're willing to spend roughly 16 percent more for beef without pink slime.

The USDA this year is contracted to buy 111.5 million pounds of ground beef for the National School Lunch Program. About 7 million pounds of that is from BPI.Yeah, a plant is closing in Waterloo. A couple hundred jobs are gone.

[jidar]

They've done that for years though. There's FDA regulations that force food manufacturers to tell you exactly everything that's included, and it's been that way for some time. It's called the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. People just haven't given a shit about finely textured lean beef until somebody gave it a scary icky sounding name that has absolutely nothing to do with the actual contents. I've seen critics of this claim that the industry has been trying to hide the fact that it uses finely textured lean beef. But they haven't. They never did. Because there's absolutely nothing to hide.

There is no "slime" in finely textured lean beef. Because it's nothing but 100% beef that had to be mechanically separated from the fat to make it lean. They're not adding anything that magically transforms it from 100% beef to "slime". I challenge you to show the opposite. You keep saying you just want to know what's in it. Well, it's beef. That's all that's in it. The fact that it went through a machine doesn't change that. It's the exact same meat, it just requires a machine to be separated from the fat. I'm just stunned that people somehow see this as a completely separate product. It's no different than cutting your corn off the cob by hand, or running it through a corn kerneler machine. Would you consider corn run through a kerneler machine to be "waste corn"?

Your willingness to pay more isn't getting you better meat. You're simply paying for a more time consuming production process of the same quality meat. And in fact, you'd be getting meat with a much higher fat content, and a much greater risk of carrying bacteria like E. Coli.

The voice of reason. I like the cut of your facts.

[Dayze]

I, for one, love me some pink slime.

[Fish]

Just because I don't eat SpaghettiOs, Hot Dogs, or Pink Slime burgers doesn't mean you can't. I also refuse to eat gas station food, except from Casey's.

I have a problem with what some governors and other government officials are doing. If they want to come out and say that the pink slime is safe i'm cool with that. But the all out defense of a product is a bit much. Next thing you know governor of states with Toyota Plants will be rolled out there defending the product when they get some bad PR like they did a few years ago. Its the role of BPI to defend its product, not our elected officials.

The all out defense of the product is necessary. Because people are going into a mouth frothing frenzy over something that they don't understand, which in turn is drastically raising production prices and putting people out of work for no reason. The fact that you think it's a different product is exactly why they're going to great lengths to try to educate you about it. The completely opposite opinions about it in this thread should be proof enough of the lack of understanding.

[jiveturkey]

Your willingness to pay more isn't getting you better meat. You're simply paying for a more time consuming production process of the same quality meat. And in fact, you'd be getting meat with a much higher fat content, and a much greater risk of carrying bacteria like E. Coli.

Except that I rarely buy cow. If I'm eating red meat it's bison.

Would you mind expanding on why the risk of E.Coli is higher?

[qabbaan]

In this area there was only one grocery store chain that sold beef containing the pink slime, and they have announced they won't sell it once existing stock is depleted. Local jobs are definitely in jeopardy at Cargill, which produces the variety of slime that is treated with citric acid rather than ammonia.

[Fish]

Except that I rarely buy cow. If I'm eating red meat it's bison.

Would you mind expanding on why the risk of E.Coli is higher?

Finely textured lean beef is sprayed with ammonium hydroxide gas. Actually, most processed products are sprayed this way, but finely textured lean beef is the only one that gets attention from it. Just about any food product that needs preservatives to stay fresh is done the same way with ammonium hydroxide. But anyway...

It's treated with ammonium hydroxide gas. Sprayed isn't really appropriate, because it's in a gaseous state so nothing really soaks in at all. But what that does, is kill off any bacteria present. Most generally that's a form of E. Coli. And before you go "Ewww", read the quote below on why this is a good thing. Ammonium hydroxide is produced naturally your body every day in quantities much higher than what you could ever ingest from any food treated with it.

But people don't like the sound of treating their food with something that has ammonium in the name, so that to has been demonized as being an evil part of the pink slime process. Even though this process is done with countless other foods people consume, they don't want it done to their beef anymore. But all it does is leave additional bacteria in the meat. The beef industry is saying, "Hey, this is for your own good, but if you don't want it in there, we'll gladly give you more expensive beef with higher fat content and greater chance of bacteria.... idiots.."

The source link below also has a long list of all the products you buy that contain ammonium hydroxide as a preservative. It's a long list. Any dairy based product, butters, processed fruits and veggies, frozen desserts, cereals, any bread products, sweeteners, seasonings, lots of diet foods, energy drinks, beer, wine, even bottled water. Check the link for all the info you ever wanted to know about Ammonium Hydroxide.

The FDA (1973, 2003) determined that concentrations of ammonia and ammonium compounds normally present in food do not suggest a health risk; ammonia and ammonium ions are recognized to be integral components of normal metabolic processes.

It is useful to note that ammonia is readily absorbed by the body and is produced in moderately high quantities ca. 4 – 8 grams/day in the gut of humans. It has been estimated that up to 17 grams of ammonia are produced in humans daily (WHO, 1986). Ammonia is excreted primarily as urea and urinary ammonium compounds through the kidneys.

Ammonium has not been shown to be carcinogenic.

Ammonium ions are essential to metabolism of animals, plants, and microorganisms
Nitrogen cycling is a critical to life on earth. Ammonia ions play a crucial role in this cycling because of their use in all life. Basic to all life are proteins comprised of some twenty different amino acids. In plants and microorganism, most of these amino acids are synthesized from organic or inorganic nitrogen including ammonia. In humans and other animals, a significant number of amino acids are not synthesized but are considered essential and must be consumed as intact amino acids.

It becomes clear that ammonia is one of the major metabolites of the human body. Both humans and their constituent microorganisms produce gram quantities of ammonia that are used internally or excreted as urea or other forms. Estimates are that up to 17 grams of ammonia are ingested and/or metabolized each day by the human. The amount of ingested ammonia from additives has been estimated at less than 20 milligrams/day or 0.02 g. This is approximately 850 times less than the amounts produced endogenously in humans and exogenously by intestinal bacteria. Regulatory status of ammonium hydroxide is well established with the material being considered GRAS as used under GMPs. The compound is approved for use in the United States, EU, Australia, New Zealand, and many other countries and entities.

Source: http://www.beefproducts.com/ISU-Ammonium.pdf

[jiveturkey]

Do they treat the entire cow or just the slim?

When they're cutting steaks is that treated?

[Fish]

Do they treat the entire cow or just the slim?

When they're cutting steaks is that treated?

They treat the meat after it's been removed from the bone. The carcass is quartered, and each section is processed in a different manner. So it depends on what section the meat comes from, and how much fat content it has. The fat is what spoils first, and therefore the fatty parts need the preservative the most. So any cut of meat that has considerable fat content could be treated. A nice lean roast that doesn't contain a lot of fat doesn't get treated as much, if at all. But different plants have different methods. As has been mentioned, some plants use citric acid instead of ammonium hydroxide. It serves the same purpose, and both are equally safe for consumption. Citric acid doesn't seem to get the same criticism because it's a prettier sounding term.

[BIG_DADDY]

Finely textured lean beef is sprayed with ammonium hydroxide gas. Actually, most processed products are sprayed this way, but finely textured lean beef is the only one that gets attention from it. Just about any food product that needs preservatives to stay fresh is done the same way with ammonium hydroxide. But anyway...

It's treated with ammonium hydroxide gas. Sprayed isn't really appropriate, because it's in a gaseous state so nothing really soaks in at all. But what that does, is kill off any bacteria present. Most generally that's a form of E. Coli. And before you go "Ewww", read the quote below on why this is a good thing. Ammonium hydroxide is produced naturally your body every day in quantities much higher than what you could ever ingest from any food treated with it.

But people don't like the sound of treating their food with something that has ammonium in the name, so that to has been demonized as being an evil part of the pink slime process. Even though this process is done with countless other foods people consume, they don't want it done to their beef anymore. But all it does is leave additional bacteria in the meat. The beef industry is saying, "Hey, this is for your own good, but if you don't want it in there, we'll gladly give you more expensive beef with higher fat content and greater chance of bacteria.... idiots.."

The source link below also has a long list of all the products you buy that contain ammonium hydroxide as a preservative. It's a long list. Any dairy based product, butters, processed fruits and veggies, frozen desserts, cereals, any bread products, sweeteners, seasonings, lots of diet foods, energy drinks, beer, wine, even bottled water. Check the link for all the info you ever wanted to know about Ammonium Hydroxide.

Dude, you should be stoked. YOu should be able to pick up pink slime for pennies now and feed your whole family.

[Fish]

Dude, you should be stoked. YOu should be able to pick up pink slime for pennies now and feed your whole family.

I commend you for sticking to your ideals, however misguided and ignorant they may be...

[BIG_DADDY]

I commend you for sticking to your ideals, however misguided and ignorant they may be...

Premium cuts and fresh ground baby. If that makes me misguided in your eyes so be it. Enjoy your slime.

[Saulbadguy]

I vote we all do whatever Alex Jones says we should do.

[qabbaan]

I vote we all do whatever Alex Jones says we should do.

What would that be... Put our savings into gold coins?

[jiveturkey]

I remember reading an article a year or so back (don't ask me to find it, I already tried).

It stated that E. Coli is caused by feeding cows an unnatural diet (corn, animal byproducts....). Cows that were kept on a grass diet didn't develop E.Coli.

It should also be noted that the corn is used to fatten up the cow to make it tastier. Who wants a dry hamburger?

So in the end, we're making the cows less healthy for us (more fat) and then we have to treat the meat to make it less likely to make us sick.

Like I mentioned earlier for someone people this works. I don't expect the rest of the world to spend what I do on grass fed bison or in some cases grass fed cow.

And when I eat a burger out and fully expect that it's going to be loaded with all kinds of shit.

[Fish]

Premium cuts and fresh ground baby. If that makes me misguided in your eyes so be it. Enjoy your slime.

Yes, I'm sure you never unknowingly consume any with that method. You're sneaky like that.

I mostly eat venison. Which I process myself. But I don't mind some finely textured lean beef once in a while. It's tasty slime. Sometimes I request it with extra ammonium hydroxide slather, just for kicks.

A wise man once told me.. Chemistry is simply nature, explained in a way that many people can't comprehend...

[Fish]

I remember reading an article a year or so back (don't ask me to find it, I already tried).

It stated that E. Coli is caused by feeding cows an unnatural diet (corn, animal byproducts....). Cows that were kept on a grass diet didn't develop E.Coli.

It should also be noted that the corn is used to fatten up the cow to make it tastier. Who wants a dry hamburger?

So in the end, we're making the cows less healthy for us (more fat) and then we have to treat the meat to make it less likely to make us sick.

Like I mentioned earlier for someone people this works. I don't expect the rest of the world to spend what I do on grass fed bison or in some cases grass fed cow.

And when I eat a burger out and fully expect that it's going to be loaded with all kinds of shit.

The bacteria comes from the entire convoluted production process. The confined spaces for keeping the cattle, which quickly reduces to mud and shit. The fattening process. The time it takes to run through the giant plants. The time it takes to be delivered across the country. The temperatures at which the meat is kept throughout the process. On and on..

But there is certainly truth to that. And it would be great if we could all do the same. The problem is that we consume at a rate that makes grass fed unfeasible for the general majority. And in turn, that's creating an "organic" movement. But the organic movement itself is undergoing an industrial growth spurt. Which is causing it to be plagued by equally nasty stuff in an effort to mass produce organic. It's getting harder and harder to buy truly organic or grass fed food that's actually safer to eat. Some of the higher priced "organic" or "natural" stuff you buy isn't regulated for safety at all.

Your best bet has always been to find a small local producer that has yet to try and industrialize itself to the masses. Or simply grow your own.

[sedated]

Premium cuts and fresh ground baby. If that makes me misguided in your eyes so be it. Enjoy your slime.

I assume only local, organic, grass-fed.

[BIG_DADDY]

I assume only local, organic, grass-fed.

Whenever possible. I source the great majority.

[jiveturkey]

And I understand that we can't feed the masses on the grass fed/local/organic/hippy shit that I normally eat.

If the citric acid works just as well then the plants that are closing should look into retooling and rebranding.

[BIG_DADDY]

A wise man once told me.. Chemistry is simply nature, explained in a way that many people can't comprehend...

Yea, I think that whole omniscient routine has been pretty played out. For the life of me I can't figure out why it's so important for you to get other people to enjoy pink slime or why you spend so much time on it.

[Fish]

But packing plants shouldn't have to retool or rebrand simply because of consumer misinformation and unnecessary outrage. Especially in doing the same thing they've been safely doing for decades without any complaints. Doing so is costing many people their jobs, and raising the price of beef for everyone, whether you choose to eat beef with finely textured lean beef or not. The changes you're recommending are only for public relations purposes to assuage a paranoid public. They bring zero positive benefits other than that, and could actually make beef less safe and worse for you. That's the only point I'm trying to make.

[BIG_DADDY]

But packing plants shouldn't have to retool or rebrand simply because of consumer misinformation and unnecessary outrage. Especially in doing the same thing they've been safely doing for decades without any complaints. Doing so is costing many people their jobs, and raising the price of beef for everyone, whether you choose to eat beef with finely textured lean beef or not. The changes you're recommending are only for public relations purposes to assuage a paranoid public. They bring zero positive benefits other than that, and could actually make beef less safe and worse for you. That's the only point I'm trying to make.

So you condone making decisons for consumers instead of letting them make decisions for themself, nice. I can only imagine your take on GMO foods.

[ArrowheadHawk]

So you condone making decisons for consumers instead of letting them make decisions for themself, nice. I can only imagine your take on GMO foods.

ROFL California hippies :rolleyes:

[Fish]

So you condone making decisons for consumers instead of letting them make decisions for themself, nice. I can only imagine your take on GMO foods.

:facepalm:

I'm not trying to make decisions for you. Neither is the beef industry. Nobody is forcing you to buy any specific cuts of meat. You have the choice. You've always had that choice. You act like someone is dragging you to Piggly Wiggly and forcing you to buy cheap meat against your will.

But right now, many hundreds of people are out of jobs. The businesses they worked for had to fire them. Not because they did anything wrong. Not because there was any safety concern with their products. But because people became outraged by something they didn't understand. Because of misinformation and exaggeration. And on top of that, now we all have to pay more for beef products. I don't condone that.

[Frosty]

And I understand that we can't feed the masses on the grass fed/local/organic/hippy shit that I normally eat.

If the citric acid works just as well then the plants that are closing should look into retooling and rebranding.

Citric acid used in processing is almost always made from corn. When the corn is first processed, it is bathed in sulfur dioxide, which ends up forming sulfites in the corn "mush". 1 person in 100 is sensitive or allergic to sulfites (I am one of the 1%). Sulfite sensitivity frequently manifests as allergy and asthma symptoms.

I can tell when I get ground beef that has been "sulfited" as I get very stuffed up a couple of hours after eating it. Our local Safeway has responded to the pink slime stupidity by phasing it out with beef that is processed with citric acid instead and I can no longer eat it. I'm having to buy a "all natural" brand sold at a different store that is higher in fat and costs more.

I would rather have the ammonia burger. :rolleyes:

[Epic Fail 007]

prove the governments trying to kill us

[Halfcan]

Disgusting they have to Boil the Meat chunks in Amonia to kill bacteria then add chemicals to make it look like hamburger again-GROSS!!

[Frosty]

Disgusting they have to Boil the Meat chunks in Amonia to kill bacteria then add chemicals to make it look like hamburger again-GROSS!!

There is nothing added to it.

[Stewie]

This is SO funny. What are you eating? How about that organic apple juice laced with E Coli that actually killed people. That's some good nutrition right there. I love me some deer shit in my food... BUT IT'S ORGANIC!

[BIG_DADDY]

:facepalm:

I'm not trying to make decisions for you. Neither is the beef industry. Nobody is forcing you to buy any specific cuts of meat. You have the choice. You've always had that choice. You act like someone is dragging you to Piggly Wiggly and forcing you to buy cheap meat against your will.

But right now, many hundreds of people are out of jobs. The businesses they worked for had to fire them. Not because they did anything wrong. Not because there was any safety concern with their products. But because people became outraged by something they didn't understand. Because of misinformation and exaggeration. And on top of that, now we all have to pay more for beef products. I don't condone that.

I think most consumers just want to know what they are consuming. All I want is labeling to reflect that to the best of our ability. Whether it is pink slime or labeling of GMO foods we should be making laws that empower consumers.

[ct]

Jesus there's some stupid fukin people

[Frosty]

I think most consumers just want to know what they are consuming. All I want is labeling to reflect that to the best of our ability. Whether it is pink slime or labeling of GMO foods we should be making laws that empower consumers.

Since "pink slime" (which actually isn't pink or slime at all) is 100% beef, what is the label supposed to say? "Contains beef and more beef"?

I do agree, though, that the labeling laws need to go further. There is a lot of chemical processing that doesn't have to be labeled like the aforementioned sulfer dioxide soak for corn that will be processed (and ends up in cornstarch, dextrose, maltodextrin, citric acid, and the myriad of other stuff made from corn) or the sulfites sprayed on shrimp immediately after it is caught to prevent black spots. Someone could eat shrimp and react to the sulfites and conclude that they are allergic to shellfish because the package says it's just shrimp.

Even if the government considers these GRAS, it would be nice to know everything that is in our food.