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"Pink Slime" Destined to School Lunch Program

Bamby

New member
Seven Million Pounds of “Pink Slime” Beef Destined for National School Lunch Program

McDonald's and Taco Bell have banned it, but now the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is buying 7 million pounds of beef containing ammonium hydroxide-treated ground connective tissue and meat scraps and serving it up to America's school kids. If you thought cafeteria food was gross before….

According to TheDaily.com, the term "pink slime" was coined by microbiologist Gerald Zirnstein, formerly of the USDA Food Safety Inspection Service. He first saw it being mixed into burger meat when he was touring a Beef Products Inc (BPI) facility in 2002 after an outbreak of salmonella. "Scientists in D.C. were pressured to approve this stuff with minimal safety approval," Zirnstein told The Daily.


"Pink slime," which is officially called "Lean Beef Trimmings," is banned for human consumption in the United Kingdom. It is commonly used in dog and chicken food. Celebrity chef and safe food advocate Jamie Oliver featured the substance and called for its ban on the April 12, 2011 episode of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, which may have influenced McDonald's to stop using beef patties containing the filler.


Reportedly, Zirnstein and his colleague Carl Custer studied the substance and classified it as a "high risk product." Custer, who worked at the Food Safety Inspection service for 35 years, says, "We looked at the product and we objected to it because it used connective tissues instead of muscle. It was simply not nutritionally equivalent [to ground beef]. My main objection was that it was not meat."


Another issue is the ammonium hydroxide, a chemical that is used to kill pathogens such as E. coli. The FDA considers it safe for human consumption but a 2009 expose by the New York Times questioned its safety and efficacy. Some food advocates are asking for meat containing "pink slime" to be labeled. It's used in about 70% of ground beef in the US. "We don't know which districts are receiving what meat, and this meat isn't labeled to show pink slime. They don't have to under federal law," Bettina Siegal, a writer and mother of two who created TheLunchTray.com told NBC. Siegel has started a petition to demand the USDA stop using the product in the National School Lunch Program.


Would you allow your kids to eat ground beef mixed with "pink slime?" :hammer:

Video and source link Here
 

Cowboy

Wait for it.
GOLD Site Supporter
Would you allow your kids to eat ground beef mixed with "pink slime?"

Nope, but iffen we had youguns now I also wouldn't let them eat crap from a grocery store or any where else they have no idea what the ingredients are or how its prepared. :wink:

Hell these days there is no way in hell I would allow our offspring to darken the doors of any government corrupted and controlled "so called school" or any other government brainwashing facilty either. :glare:

Theres a lot to be said for home schooling these days if you want your kids to be brought up with the same values and principles you were taught as a kid. :wink:
 

jimbo

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
Never did feed my kids something I wouldn't touch myself. Typical government solution to everything.

The story put me in mind of the government's venture into salmon farming. The short version:

Government developed salmon farming as a way to increase income in Alaska. Which then produced an oversupply of salmon. Which caused the market price to drop below production costs. Which caused the government to put a floor price on salmon. Which caused the government to have an oversupply of salmon. Which they then sent to the school lunch program. Which the kids wouldn't eat as they didn't like the color or texture. The answer: Bleach the fish, grind it and turn it into fish nuggets. Call it healthy since it was, after all, salmon.
 

muleman

Gone But Not Forgotten
GOLD Site Supporter
Folks wonder why I raise and butcher my own meat. I have a good local shop doing the butchering and they know I want meat not fat and questionable stuff in my burger. The rendering barrels are there for a reason. I would not even feed my dogs that kind of slop.:hammer:
 

jimbo

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
I haven't bought ground meats in years. I buy in primals, the largest cuts I can reasonably handle, and cut it up myself. Not a perfect solution as I still don't know how the animal was raised, but the best I can come up with on my acre of ground.
 

FrancSevin

Proudly Deplorable
GOLD Site Supporter
The best burgers you can make are double run "Cube" steaks made with lean round steaks.

Tender, lean and no fillers.

For guys like mule who can grow their own, awesome. I plan tyo be there 100% next year myself. As for now, only primal cuts fromt he market. And only when I cannot get meat from my neighbor's herd.
 

JEV

Mr. Congeniality
GOLD Site Supporter
Send a note to Michelle and see if her little socialists are being fed that shit. Bet we all know the answer to that question.
 

Cowboy

Wait for it.
GOLD Site Supporter
Send a note to Michelle and see if her little socialists are being fed that shit. Bet we all know the answer to that question.
Wrong color Jev, the crap she is pushing is more likely green, as in "Soylent Green. :doh:
 

joec

New member
GOLD Site Supporter
I buy all meats from a local family farm since moving Lexington. I know how they grow it, what they feed it and how the animals are raised. If not we do have a good local butcher also that we trust. For other things such as fish and some sausage we by that from Whole Foods. Can goods, and other house hold items is all we have bought in years at the local chain stores. Chickens I get from a local Amish family also so I also know how they are raised and what they eat. I do grind all my ground meats also.
 

300 H and H

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
The brother in law, one of them used to work at Tysons in Garden City Kansas. The burger mixers were bigger than than the truck mounted cement mixing kind...and held the trimmings from more than 1,500 cattle. I knew there was a reason I don't buy super market hambuger. This should be stopped and not allowed. There are other places this pin slime product can be utilized without putting it into the human food chain. The manufacturer will get less, but sorry bud. Wonder who owns the company that makes it? Mabe connected to the managemnent?? I hope the outrage this is causing makes this so, and gets it out of our food chain....It well should.

Regards, Kirk
 

waybomb

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
So, what is pinkslime? You say you won't eat it, but do you know what it is? I do. And I bet you eat it all the time. If you see lean fine textured beef on the label, you've ate it.

Do you eat your steaks bone in? That meat next to the bone that you have to chew off the bone. You have essentially eaten the same meat.
Yes, it is processed, but same meat.
 
K

kermit2

Guest
I don't eat ground beef often, but when I do, I grind it myself. Ground venison is much better. Same with sausage, I make that myself. I control the quality not someone worshiping the almighty dollar.
Stay hungry my friends!
 

joec

New member
GOLD Site Supporter
So, what is pinkslime? You say you won't eat it, but do you know what it is? I do. And I bet you eat it all the time. If you see lean fine textured beef on the label, you've ate it.

Do you eat your steaks bone in? That meat next to the bone that you have to chew off the bone. You have essentially eaten the same meat.
Yes, it is processed, but same meat.

I think the chemicals used in the processing is the problem added to the end product. Not the part of a naturally butchered beef but what they do with it after it is harvested.
 

Adillo303

Diesel Truck Fan
GOLD Site Supporter
Isn't this the same govt organization that took a kid's home packed lunch away and made then eat chicken nuggets?
 

joec

New member
GOLD Site Supporter
Isn't this the same govt organization that took a kid's home packed lunch away and made then eat chicken nuggets?

You do understand that school system policies though supported by the federal government for the most part are either state or locally run in most states including lunch programs? This has been my findings on the subject especially when it comes to school lunch systems. The feds just say they districts have to feed them it is the school districts that dictate what they will feed. I know in Dade County's school district they used to offer several different choices and in high school many had open campuses, in other words you could leave and buy lunch off of school grounds. Texas for the most part are closed campuses however many vendors from Pizza Hut to McDonald's where vendors there. The news that they won't let kids bring a lunch is beyond my reasoning as it has been going on since I was in school.
 

300 H and H

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
Waybomb, what is not to understand about this??


"Scientists in D.C. were pressured to approve this stuff with minimal safety approval," Zirnstein told The Daily.


Reportedly, Zirnstein and his colleague Carl Custer studied the substance and classified it as a "high risk product." Custer, who worked at the Food Safety Inspection service for 35 years, says, "We looked at the product and we objected to it because it used connective tissues instead of muscle. It was simply not nutritionally equivalent [to ground beef]. My main objection was that it was not meat."

and finally,
Another issue is the ammonium hydroxide, a chemical that is used to kill pathogens such as E. coli. The FDA considers it safe for human consumption but a 2009 expose by the New York Times questioned its safety and efficacy.


So why should it be allowed in ground beef? In years past it wasn't around to be add back in. So why should it be now? Why not pet foods? It would seem to be a mcuh better and safer use, IMHO. Do we really need to tarnish the trust of the public who eats just so some one can make untold amounts of $$ on this waste product?

Just wondering, Kirk
 

waybomb

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
Zirnstein and Custer are pro peta people and want you to eat vegies.

The question you ask, why should it be allowed in ground beef - IT ALREADY IS. It comes form the area around the bones. The boners are not 100% efficient so this process removes what they don't. If you eat meat off the bone, guess what you eat? "Pink Slime" It is actually called Lean Fine Textured Beef, or LFTB for short.

NYT has an expose on ammonia used for killing bacteria? You're a farmer. If you could remove every bit of bacteria to protect your livelihood, would you? Especially if the FDA and FSIS all say it is safe?
 

300 H and H

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
Zirnstein and Custer are pro peta people and want you to eat vegies.

I didn't know that...

Question still remains in my mind. Why did it get into the human food stream? Cause some one had some thing to gain. If the public were alowed a voice in this, what do you think they would have to say?

Damn few things we do as individules are sacred to us all, and what we eat is one of those things. If the processed food industry is not willing to be open about our food supply, especially a fresh product, they should not be surprised by the opinion rendered from the from the public. After all they are the customer, and in my world the customer is always right.

You shed a new light on this issue, thanks for that. But my concerns are with the customer, as a beef producer.

Regards, Kirk
 

waybomb

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
You are a farmer. What part of an farmed animal is wasted?

What is to tell the public? You eat connective tissue all the time. Ever eat ribs? What do you think holds the meat to the ribs? Or a bone-in steak?

You are eating nothing new with LFTB. It's the same stuff you've always eaten.

If you want to learn how farm animals are harvested, you'll need a bit more than a short discourse. Try a 4 year degree at ISU or UW in meat science.

No, the consumers can not be educated on everything; they would be full time students their entire lives. I am certain you have forgotten more about corn that I know. Does that make corn growers bad and evil?

I know that if I release 100 pounds of ammonia into the atmosphere in a 24 hour period, I need to call the National Emergency Response Center, the DNR, the USCG, and the local emergency groups. and then I get investigated, fined, whatever. Vilified in the papers.

But you as a farmer dump thousands of pounds of NH3 a season, with no issue. But now you have an issue with less than 1% that boiled off immediately in food????

Do you know how corn oil is refined? In pure acetone!!! That stuff will kill you! But you use corn oil and other vegetable oils all the time.

Here's where much of the LFTB comes from, as well as billions of pounds of ground beef. http://www.beefproducts.com/

Read the page on ammonia in foods.
 

300 H and H

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
Fred,

Asusual you make very good points. I read your link, and was, well yet again unaware.

From day to day, I wish we could go back to the days of the local butcher and the personal service of those times. But they are gone now and we have to live in the presant situation of many to feed and how to best do it. Some times modern ideas and processes need to be questioned. But for me, I am some what more comforted with the information you linked me to. But be aware the customer is right.... and like you have done me, when questions are raised there needs to be some answers that make sence. I think in a healthy situation, this needs to be done.

BTW, the NH3 is supposed to stay in the soil!!!

Regards, Kirk
 

JEV

Mr. Congeniality
GOLD Site Supporter
Not sure where you live that you don't have local butchers, but here in NE Ohio we have an abundance of local butchers to choose from. I have two favorites that I use, and actually save money over the big stores like Giant Eagle. Plus, I know it's as fresh as I can get. A for ground meat, I suggest to many people to buy your cuts when on sale and grind your own. I've been doing this for years, and friends are amazed at the flavor of a good, coarse ground chuck burger.
 

300 H and H

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
Oh we have lockers. (butcher shops)

But most folks don't get meat from them unless they take the critter in themseleves. I have 1/2 a hog in the locker right now.

For the multitude of folks this is either not an option, or one they are for the most part unaware of any where else to buy their meat. The common grocery store is where the vast majority of meat is sold.

Regards, Kirk
 

300 H and H

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
This is very much in the news here again. It seems about 600 workers are now layed off because of this issue. Waybomb has it right here. We have had this product for 30 years with no recall issues.

The guys at USDA who called this product "pink slime" are going to be on the hot seat. About 6 Govenors of the mid sates are getting the ball rolling on trying to change public opinion.

Thanks Waybomb for setting me straight about this issue. Just wish now other folks woud do a little reading and understand what the product is. I feel sorry for those who have lost their jobs, and I hope it is not permanent.

I also hope the USDA guys are let go as well.....

Regards, Kirk
 
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