“Pink slime” seems to be in the news an awful lot lately.  A product actually known as Lean Finely Textured Beef is being termed “pink slime” and if you believe what you see and hear on the news, it is a gelatin like substance containing dangerous chemicals and used as filler in ground beef.  When the first photos of this product hit the internet, it indeed looked like pink slime.  And to be truthful, the thoughts of it being in the hamburgers I enjoy were not very appetizing.  That was until I started doing a little research about this so-called slime.  One of the first things I learned was that the photos circulating when this story initially hit the news were not even of beef.  It was mechanically separated chicken.  Since then, a more accurate and much more appealing looking photo is being attached to the stories.  I encourage everyone to visit the sites http://pinkslimeisamyth.com and www.meatmythcrushers.com if you want to know more on this issue than what my blog post tells you.

One of the myths these sites want to lay to rest is that Lean Finely Textured Beef is just filler and not beef.  It is beef.  One blog post uses the example of trimming a beef roast.  It is nearly impossible to trim away all the fat without sacrificing some of the red meat.  However, a company known as Beef Products, Incorporated developed a method to salvage the trimmings left from large cuts of meat.  They do this using a heating process that essentially liquefies and then removes the fat from the actual meat.  The resulting meat is practically 100% lean and has the same nutritional value as the rest of the roast.

The news media is reporting that the meat is treated with dangerous chemicals and that because the meat contains additives, it is not 100% beef and should be labeled as such.  In reality, nothing is added to the meat.  Instead, during the processing, the meat is treated with a “puff” of ammonia for about a second.  The reason for doing this is to kill bacteria.  The ammonia combines with naturally occurring moisture in the meat to create ammonium hydroxide.  Ammonia controls certain pathogens in meat that cause E.coli; thus making it safer for consumers.  Ammonium hydroxide was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1974 as safe for use in food processing.  In 2001, the Food Safety and Inspection Service approved it as a way to increase food safety specifically in beef.  Ammonia is a naturally occurring compound found in numerous foods (like baked goods, cheese, chocolate, and puddings) as well as our own bodies.  It is important to realize that this is a different type of ammonia than what is used in household cleaning products!  Ammonia is also used in the processing of dairy products, breakfast cereals, eggs, fish, and beverages.  In fact, ammonium hydroxide is even used on fresh foods (like fruits and vegetables!) to kill bacteria.  The simple reason is to make our food safer to eat.    

Estimates show that farmers will have to double food production by 2050 if we are to continue feeding the world’s growing population.  We should be commending companies like Beef Products, Incorporated for their efforts in making the beef industry a little more efficient.  Instead, we are hearing news of BPI being forced to shut down production because of low demand, and other beef processing companies declaring outright bankruptcy.  These companies are (or were) saving valuable meat from going to waste as the world’s meat supplies decline and demand actually increases.  If we are to continue to supply affordable meat to the consumers who want it, we must develop new ways to be more efficient and economical.  And we must fight back when un-informed media and consumers make ridiculous claims of dangerous pink slime invading our beef supply.