"Pink Slime" in 70% of U.S. Ground Beef (Read 1364 times)


Why is it sideways?

    According to allegations from USDA whistleblower. Link to ABC news report. The person who authorized this decision for the USDA was just hired away by the beef industry for 7 figures.

     

    Can someone give me a good reason to eat non-local ground beef? 'Cause I am d.o.n.e.

      Admittedly, I do not look much into where my food originates
       

      Time to shake off the naivete.  

      "If you have the fire, run..." -John Climacus


      A Saucy Wench

        What's worse is the highest amount of pink slime is in the meat sold to schools for kids lunches.  Most fast food chains stopped the pink slime with the taco bell whistleblowing.   

         

        Remind me of this the next time I gripe about HAVING to pack lunches every day (our school doesnt have a cafeteria...whew.)

        I have become Death, the destroyer of electronic gadgets

         

        "When I got too tired to run anymore I just pretended I wasnt tired and kept running anyway" - dd, age 7

        Trent


        Good Bad & The Monkey

          What is wrong with beef trimmings?

           

          If you are going to kill an animal to eat it, you should be willing to eat it all.

          xor


            When I was a kid, my brady bunch family was pretty poor so we bought beef by the 'side' (aka half a cow) with all the trimmings and organs and such.  I just THOUGHT liver was bad... until it was kidneys day.  Oh man.

             

            (heart and tongue were pretty ok.  Tripe and brains, no)

             

            As for pink slime, the shit ain't right.

             

              What is wrong with beef trimmings?

               

              If you are going to kill an animal to eat it, you should be willing to eat it all.

               

              Is pink slime safe?

              Amy

              Trent


              Good Bad & The Monkey

                It is just ground up beef trimmings, no? Just as safe as the rest of the beef.

                 

                Unless you were the animal.

                  It is just ground up beef trimmings, no? Just as safe as the rest of the beef.

                   

                  Unless you were the animal.

                   

                  It's beef trimmings that have been treated with ammonia gas to kill pathogens.  The beef industry says it's safe, but I think many people are concerned that the treatment is not effective.

                   

                  Plus, how much per pound to you think ammonia gas treated ground up cartilage should go for?

                  Amy

                  Trent


                  Good Bad & The Monkey

                    Me, I don't touch the stuff.

                      The ammonia spray doesn't sound appealing.


                      Feeling the growl again

                        Is pink slime safe?

                         

                        It does not appear that anything is in pink slime except what was in the meat of the animal to begin with....it is simply an additional refinement step so they can use something they would otherwise throw away.  I see no reason to think this would have any effect on safety (unless adding some fat is considered a safety issue).

                         

                        It kinda appears to me to be an issue created by someone because they wanted to create an issue.  "Pink slime" is not an official name for the stuff, but a deliberately deragatory one created by the whistleblower themselves.

                         

                        I do not know all the details, but I would guess the FDA's decision on whether or not to let it be included in hamburger had more to do with accurate labeling of the packaging and consistent expactations of the product, and less or nothing to do with safety.  But I don't know all the info.

                         

                        If you eat hamburger, you're already eating material one step above what goes into hot dogs (but hey, I'll eat both).  Unless you buy the super pricey stuff, they're not grinding up good steaks to throw in there. 

                        "If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does.  There's your pep talk for today.  Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

                         

                        I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills

                         

                        LedLincoln


                        not bad for mile 25

                          Ultraprocessing is not pretty in the food industry.  In Trent's kitchen, it is cool.

                           

                          What I don't like about the industry's push to get approval for irradiating meat and other products to make them "safer" is that it just allows them to get away with providing dirtier food.  More fecal and vermin material in the food.  I guess ammonia has a similar advantage to the industry.


                          Feeling the growl again

                            The ammonia spray doesn't sound appealing.

                             

                            They clarified it's gaseous.

                             

                            Probably 70-80% of the meat I eat I killed and processed in my own kitchen.   So I know exactly how it was handled and processed.  Perhaps I leave the pink slime in and don't know it?

                            "If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does.  There's your pep talk for today.  Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

                             

                            I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills

                             

                            LedLincoln


                            not bad for mile 25

                              They clarified it's gaseous.

                               

                              Probably 70-80% of the meat I eat I killed and processed in my own kitchen.   So I know exactly how it was handled and processed.  Perhaps I leave the pink slime in and don't know it?

                               

                              I would feel a lot more comfortable eating the meat you process than what I get in the supermarket.  The deer and elk we used to eat had a natural and varied diet and didn't get force fed products that include processed brains and livers from their own kind.


                              Feeling the growl again

                                I would feel a lot more comfortable eating the meat you process than what I get in the supermarket.  The deer and elk we used to eat had a natural and varied diet and didn't get force fed products that include processed brains and livers from their own kind.

                                 

                                I grew up raising cattle.  Neither we nor anyone else I know fed cattle materials originating from cattle.  I'm pretty sure that is illegal since the mad cow scare; I am positive it is illegal in Europe.  Our cattle were fed hay and corn silage, nothing nefarious.  I don't ever recall forcing cattle to eat anything either.  Like people on the couch with a bad of potato chips, put a cow in front of food and it will pretty much eat as much as it can.

                                 

                                Farming, in general, is subjected to a lot of misinformation and downright urban legends created by people who don't have any experience with it.  I especially liked the recent bit about PETA or whomever stopping McDonalds from buying from pork producers who keep sows in restrictive crates.  Apparently they are unaware that while a mother pig becomes very protective of her piglets after about a week, before that she has no issues with lying down on them and squashing them alive.  If there are other pigs around they will eat the piglets.  Raising pigs without crates seems awfully cruel to me, having actually participated in the process.  There was nothing worse than not getting a sow into a crate before she delivered and having to go into the pen and clean up the carnage.

                                 

                                I'm not sure what you are looking for in a "varied" diet...beef you buy from cattle out West are termed "grassfed" and that really is all they eat.  Seems like every square inch of Montana (game refuges and all) is pastured.  Just once I'd like to hunt elk where I don't have to worry about stepping in cow pies.

                                 

                                The elk out west probably eat a bit greater variation in vegetation than the cattle but not much.  The deer in the midwest eat EXACTLY what the cattle do, corn, hay and soybeans.  I know because they cost us thousands of dollars per year and eat anything withing 30 yards of a woodline down to the dirt.  Deer/elk and produce a naturally leaner meat (they don't marble), but there is nothing natural about the amount of fat on a deer in the Grain Belt...way more than the species is supposed to have.  Of course since I control what goes in the meat grinder I trim off as much fat as I can and throw it away.

                                 

                                The most nefarious product I can remember feeding cattle is Lucky Charms.  Our cousins used to get the seconds of the marshmallows by the semi trailer full and they'd feed them to the cattle.

                                "If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does.  There's your pep talk for today.  Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

                                 

                                I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills