Pink Slime - What's the big deal?

[FoolKiller]

If you are in the US and have been paying attention to news for the past few months you have likely suddenly become very aware of what is known as pink slime. McDonald's and Taco Bell recently said they will stop using it in their foods.

Recently I saw a woman in a wheelchair at the grocery demand to speak to the butcher in the meat department and then interrogate him about if they use pink slime. When I begin to seeing people become annoying about topics in public that is when I decide something seems off. Perhaps I have a radar for idiots automatons in large groups. But that was the triggered for me to really look into this.

What is pink slime? Let's ask Jamie Oliver (he doesn't cry this time, I promise).



Or let's view this article from TLC (The Learning Channel).

http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/pinkslime-ammonia-ground-beef.htm

"Fat, sinew, bloody effluvia, and bits of meat." Oh, and ammonia.

This is what you're eating when you buy and prepare ground beef from most grocery stores in the U.S. today. It's also what you're eating when you eat a fast food burger or grab a quick bite at your local diner, most likely.

The latest issue of Mary Jane's Farm spreads some light on what's really in our ground beef. And the results of what they found are enough to make this particular blogger swear off ground beef for good. The article isn't online yet, but here are a few choice quotes:

- "Ten years ago, the rejected fat, sinew, bloody effluvia, and occasional bits of meat cut from carcasses in the slaughterhouse were a low-value waste product called 'trimmings' that were sold primarily as pet food. No more. Now, Beef Products Inc. of South Dakota transforms trimmings into something they call 'boneless lean beef.' In huge factories, the company liquefies the trimmings and uses a spinning centrifuge to separate the sinews and fats from the meat, leaving a mash that has been described as 'pink slime,' which is then frozen into small squares and sold as a low-cost additive to hamburger."

- "BPI produces more than 7 million pounds of the mash per week, making it the world's largest manufacturer of this frozen product. BPI explains that its product is mixed into most of the ground beef sold in the U.S. - at major fast-food restaurants, supermarkets, and school lunch programs."

But that's not all! See, the problem when you turn garbage bits of animal carcasses into "pink slime" to sell as a food product is that there's an issue with pathogens, such as E. coli. And when samples of the pink slime were tested, the tests came back showing that the slime was rampant with harmful bacteria. Now, one might think that the best idea would be to decide not to sell pink slime to feed to humans, but there's no money in that, is there? So BPI cleverly started disinfecting the slime with ammonia. And convinced the FDA to allow them to list it as a "processing ingredient" so that we wouldn't know we were eating ammonia.

We're eating garbage, people. Literally -- garbage that's been "cleaned up" with ammonia and sold to us mixed with ground beef, shrink wrapped for convenience at our local megamart.

What Can You Do?

The obvious step is to swear off ground beef. Becoming a vegetarian is looking better and better by the day, isn't it? If you can't live without your grilled burgers and meatloaf (and I can relate), look for sources of organic, local beef, and ask for it to be ground by your butcher or grind it yourself.

All I know is, I will never feed pink slime and ammonia to my family again.

Wow, after stories like that no wonder food chains and grocery stores are beginning to announce that they aren't using it anymore. It could be healthy, but after those stories I would swear it off too.


But I'm not a fan of hit pieces and scare tactics, so let's go with Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boneless_lean_beef_trimmings

Boneless lean beef trimmings refers to an industrial product created from beef trimmings using particular processes; these products are occasionally referred to using the neologism pink slime. These processes, which include meat trimmings passing through a centrifuge, and (in the most common process) being exposed to ammonia gas, have drawn attention as the subject of possible health and consumer concerns. The term pink slime was coined by Dr. Gerald Zirnstein[1] to refer to the resulting products.

A 2012 ABC News investigative report indicated that 70 percent of ground beef (beef mince) contains the lean beef, and that the USDA has allowed it to go unlabeled over the objection of a few of its own scientists.[1] A 2008 Washington Post article suggested that the boneless lean beef trimmings content of most beef patties containing the substance approaches 25%.[2]
These trimmings are sold in the US to food companies which use it in ground beef production. Most is produced and sold by Cargill Meat Solutions and Beef Products, Inc.[3][4] (BPI). The lean beef sold by BPI has become known for increasing the pH of the beef trimmings by adding ammonium hydroxide to destroy pathogens such as E. coli and Salmonella, while the Cargill product uses antimicrobial treatments that lower the pH.[4][citation needed]

The typical beef production process results in beef trimmings, consisting of fat and meat, that frequently had been cooked down to recover the oils from the trim because it was not profitable to otherwise separate the meat from the trimmings. However, today much of these beef trimmings are sent as USDA-approved cuts of meat to special separation plants, where centrifuges separate the beef from the fat.[2]

The production process was pioneered by Eldon Roth, who in the 1980s founded Beef Products Inc. to produce frozen beef. In the 1990s, in the wake of public health concerns over pathogenic E. coli in beef, Roth developed a process to use a puff of ammonia gas to raise the pH and kill any pathogens that may be found in beef trimmings purchased from other meat production houses.[3]

Nancy Donley, president of Safe Tables Our Priority, Carol Tucker Foreman of the Consumer Federation of America’s Food Safety Institute, and other food safety experts support the technology-based approach to food safety.[2] Food safety experts in 2011 acknowledged the role of such processes in protecting the United States’ food supply against events such as the European E. coli outbreak.[5]

On 24 December 2011, international fast food restaurant chains McDonald's, Burger King and Taco Bell announced they would discontinue the use of BPI products in their food.[6][4] BPI officials said they still have other fast food chains as customers but would not identify them.[4][citation needed]

According to The Washington Post, the process involves taking USDA-approved beef trimmings, separating the fat and meat with centrifuges, then squeezing it through a tube the size of a pencil, during which time it is exposed to ammonia gas. The combination of the gas with water in the meat results in a reaction that increases the pH (lowering acidity) and killing any pathogens such as E. coli.[2]

At the end of the process, the beef is at least 90 percent lean. It is used in meat supplies across the US. It rarely comprises more than 25 percent of the final meat product that consumers purchase and eat.[2]

It sounds like Jamie Oliver's description was accurate. Well, other than the fact that there is a difference between pouring bottled ammonia cleaner over food and just exposing it to ammonia gas.

But back to the opening line of the TLC article.

"Fat, sinew, bloody effluvia, and bits of meat."

That sounds familiar. Where have I...oh yeah.

(Yes, that is chicken, not beef, but chicken-based pink slime is the same thing and makes things like chicken nuggets)

I know, Jamie Oliver claims that trimmings are called 🤬 in his industry, but I guess the Over-Emotional, Attention-Craving TV Chef industry never makes soups or sauces with a beef base. Currently I have a bag of raw chicken parts (mostly the useless tips of chicken wings from making buffalo wings) in my freezer. When I make chicken and dumplings I take a whole chicken and split it up. I have to cut out the spine and cartilage bit holding the breast plate together. But when I boil the chicken to cook it I use the same water I eventually make the sauce out of, so to get extra flavor I place the spine, breast cartilage, and the bag of extra bits (neck, gizzards, etc.) in with the chicken. The boiling pulls flavor from the bone marrow (where blood cells are made) and organs, and causes the sinewy connective tissues and fat to melt so that the meat will slide right of the bones.

I do the same thing with beef if I buy a whole cut and then slice my own steaks. I use the boiled excess bits to make sauces, marinades, etc. Ever notice that A-1 steak sauce has what appears to be little bits of meat in it?

And if you have ever enjoyed a turkey with gravy prepared traditionally then you have enjoyed the flavor of the included bag of extra bits having been boiled. Some recipes use the drippings from cooking the turkey. The drippings include small meat bits, bone marrow extractions, and melted connective tissue and fats.

But don't take my word for it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_(food)

Stock is a flavoured water preparation. It forms the basis of many dishes, particularly soups and sauces.

Traditionally stock is made by simmering various ingredients in water, including some or all of the following. A new approach is to use a pressure cooker; this will result in a better stock in a much shorter time.

Meat
Leftover cooked meat, such as that remaining on poultry carcasses, is often used along with the bones of the bird or joint. Fresh meat makes a superior stock and cuts rich in connective tissue such as shin or shoulder of beef or veal are commonly recommended, either alone or added in lower proportions to the remains of cooked poultry to provide a richer and fresher-tasting stock. Quantities recommended are in the ratio of 1 part fresh meat to 2 parts water. Pork is considered unsuitable for stock in European cooking due to its greasiness (although 19th century recipes for consomme and traditional aspic included slices of mild ham) and mutton was traditionally avoided due to the difficulty of avoiding the strong tallowy taint imparted from the fat.

Bones
Veal, beef, and chicken bones are most commonly used. The flavour of the stock comes from the cartilage and connective tissue in the bones. Connective tissue has collagen in it, which gets converted into gelatin that thickens the liquid. Stock made from bones needs to be simmered for longer than stock made from meat. Pressure cooking methods shorten the time necessary to extract the flavour from the bones.

Mirepoix
A combination of onions, carrots, celery, and sometimes other vegetables. Often the less desirable parts of the vegetables (such as carrot skins and celery ends) are used since they will not be eaten.

Herbs and spices
The herbs and spices used depend on availability and local traditions. In classical cuisine, the use of a bouquet garni (or bundle of herbs) consisting of parsley, bay leaves, a sprig of thyme, and possibly other herbs, is common. This is often placed in a sachet to make it easier to remove once the stock is cooked.

Today, ready-made stock and stock cubes consisting of dried, compressed stock ingredients are readily available. These are commonly known as bouillon cubes, as cooking base in the US, or as Oxo cubes in Britain, after a common brand of stock cube sold there.

(side note: Europe - use the pork. Let the stock cool in a refrigerator and the grease will form a hard disc on top that is easily removed by hand.)

"But wait," you say, "what about the ammonia?" Well, when we make stock we are boiling them until they are beyond cooked. In fact, if you wish to make low sodium broth your best bet is to make the stock and then continue to boil it until half the water is gone. This makes it more concentrated and more flavorful, as well as cooking the holy hell out of any pathogens.


"But it's ammonia!!!"
True. But let's ignore that it has been used in food uses for 40 years now.

Why use it? Let's review the Wikipedia article:
"The combination of the gas with water in the meat results in a reaction that increases the pH (lowering acidity) and killing any pathogens such as E. coli.[2]"

http://armymedical.tpub.com/MD0181/MD01810010.htm

Most bacteria causing foodborne disease grow best in materials that are neitherstrongly acid nor strongly alkaline.a. The pH scale is a measurement of how acidic or alkaline a substance is.Most bacteria grow in the middle of the pH scale between a value of pH 6 and pH 8.

Anyone who is familiar with the why and how of certain culinary sciences is very familiar with the importance of pH in cooking.

Have you ever had a pickle? That liquid in the jar: It is mostly acetic acid. But you call in vinegar. Why do we use vinegar in pickling? Because it kills pathogens. Vinegar is also laundry fabric softener, the Jet Dry additive for automatic dishwashers, a great glass cleaner, and can also be mixed with baking soda (a base, or alkaline, like ammonia used in many baking applications) in a clogged drain to open it up.

But vinegar is an acid and ammonia is a base, or alkaline. So is baking soda, which makes a great pot scrubber, but also a great leavening agent in baking. But let's take it a step further.

Ever had one of these?

Yummy, traditional Bavarian pretzels. Tastes great with a good Bavarian beer and dipped in mustard. But how can you get it dark and crispy on the outside while remaining soft and chewy on the inside? You need to raise the pH of the outside of the pretzel before baking. How do you do that?

You dip them in lye!

Yes lye. Yes, this lye.


This is a chemical burn.

This is a delicious pretzel.

Lye has a pH of 13 and is used in Drain-o style drain cleaners. Ammonia (when mixed with water so it can be measured) has a pH of 11.

So where is Jamie Oliver's special where he goes to a German festival and pours drain cleaner over bread dough? Where is the TLC (or any other news outlet) article that announces, "Flour, water, salt, sugar, and yeast. Oh and Lye!"

Jamie Oliver's industry may call meat trimmings 🤬 , when they aren't making soups or sauces, but I really think that description only applies to his style of journalism.


We now live in a society where we want everything prepared for us in advance, and then when we find out how it is made (yes, you have to slaughter animals to get that meat) we freak out. If you wish to avoid every food that has a "disgusting" element to being made you go right ahead. I'll even provide you videos to help you lose your appetite. More food for me.

What happens if half our society suddenly becomes vegan?

 

[W3H5]

"Fat, sinew, bloody effluvia, and bits of meat."

Sounds delicious.

I often eat food that contains this pink slime stuff, I'm not really to fussed but I'm sure they could make the same products without it.

 

[Northstar]

I don't really see the big deal either(it's not like it's from some chemical plant, it's from the same damn animal the rest of the meat is), I'm more concerned with whats actually in hot dogs.

This whole thing reeks of the usual "it's been like that for a long time but suddenly it's bad for us now" trends. Sadly those same people will complain that meat is more expensive once "pink slime" is out of the equation.

 

[FoolKiller]

I should add, the best tasting beef I have had comes from local farms selling them at our local farmer's market.

But that is even better than the non-pink slime stuff I have bought after seeing it ground at the grocery. The cows are field raised, grass fed, and leaner so they just taste better. But any mass-produced beef I buy where the only difference between the two is pink slime, I can't tell the difference.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

If you are in the US and have been paying attention to news for the past few months you have likely suddenly become very aware of what is known as pink slime.

This is what the Mayans predicted would happen. On December 21, 2012, Jamie Oliver will destroy the world with a gelatinous blob and an Essex accent.

There's no way you can make this stuff up.

 

[Racedude]

It's food. You eat it because it's delicious. Period.

 

[Luminis]

I ate that stuff before it was called pink slime.[/hipster]

Anyways, that is how dump people are. Really. What's the big deal with that pink slime? It consists of parts I, for one, have been eating thourghout all my life! And my dad used to be a chef at a relatively large, and well known restaurant, even had his own at one point. And he's been using the left-overs from all kinds of animals to make sauces and soups out of them. And I'd say that I'm quite healthy, still.

At the end of the day, you just have to find a scary name for, well, anything and people will become afraid of it, no matter what it actually is.

Seriously, some day, I'm coing to make up a scary soundiing name for, dunno, chocolate and laugh my butt of as dozens upon dozens of women swear off chocolate. I might even do something good to society by doing that, though

 

[homeforsummer]

Yeah, can't say I'm too arsed either. If I've eaten any "pink slime" in my life so far then it's not done me any harm. IUGHFAGEHBAHB *Shudders*

Very little puts me off though. Saw some program presented by Richard Hammond a while back where he was looking at stuff with a microscope. Apparently extra mature cheddar cheese, which I consume in huge quantities, is littered with cheese mites, which essentially crap all over the cheese. That white flaky surface on mature cheddar? Cheese mite crap.

Still eat loads of the stuff.

And vinegar? Full of little worm-like things. Do I have vinegar on my chips (fries, American friends)? Of course I do. Do I eat pickled onions or Branston Pickle on my mature cheddar cheese sandwiches? Hell yes.

If I regularly eat cheese mites and little worm-like creatures then a bit of pink slime that isn't hazardous to my health doesn't really concern me.

Oh, and sorry if I've put anyone off cheese or vinegar.

 

[Mark T]

It comes down to what you can afford. If you're living on a low budget then you're likely to buy the huge packs of meat which have been mixed with "pink slime" and water at a low cost. If you've got plenty of spare cash then you go for the prime cuts which are organic and generally lean.

I try to avoid any processed meats where I can and I try to avoid those with preservatives. Just a personal health choice really, I want to stay on this planet for as long as I can, eating healthily might pay off later in life.

 

[Liquid]

Agree with homeforsummer. And I love both cheese and vinegar.

What I've eaten so far hasn't done me any harm. If people can make it healthier, then fine, do it. But scare tactics annoy me. Give it a scary name and sheeple will suddenly change their opinions. Education is a good thing, but it baffles me how scared people are by what's in their food.

Hell, all the bacteria and such that live inside your body must be so damn scary to those people. And the bugs that live in your sofas and beds. Or the fact that more germs are on your dishcloth, dishes and kitchen units than in your toilet.

 

[homeforsummer]

And the bugs that live in your sofas and beds.

My room is pretty dusty at the moment. My ex-girlfriend used to sneeze like crazy whenever there was dust around, I've never had a problem. If you wrap yourself in a bubble then as soon as you're exposed everything harms you.

 

[FoolKiller]

It's comes down to what you can afford. If you're living on a low budget then you're likely to buy the huge packs of meat which have been mixed with "pink slime" and water at a low cost.

And now, this brings up another aspect of this issue. According to the varying stories this represents somewhere between 15% and 25% (I've seen both percentages quoted) of the ground beef in a single package and is in 70% of ground beef products. If we eliminate pink slime altogether then what happens to the cost of beef?

Better yet, pink slime has less fat than most forms of plain ground beef. The company that sells it claims it is 90% lean. So, would eliminating it actually increase fat content in cheaper beef, as well as raise prices?

 

[Bye Ya]

The company that sells it claims it is 90% lean.

Hmm...

 

[Slash]

I don't even care. If it tastes good I eat it.

 

[Villain]

I'm impressed. I thought for sure there'd be a GTPer or two taking up the position against "pink slime." It's not natural! Get that out of my food!

 

[tribolik]

Im not against it but however I like to know what Im eating so some obligatory info would be nice.

 

[Akira GT]

Dear Jamie Oliver, i'm pretty sure they do not use anywhere near that amount of Ammonia while doing the process. Next he'll probably be giving out about the fact that purified water contains chlorine & fluoride to kill the harmful bacteria.

 

[FoolKiller]

Hmm...

As a result of the centrifuge process. It is warmed enough to soften the fat and connective tissue, then run through a centrifuge to separate the meat from the fat. It is not an unlikely number and is a process used in the medical industry when testing blood.

I can also remove about 90% of the fat when cooking meats if I prep it at least 24 hours in advance. All I need to do that is water and a refrigerator.

 

[Bye Ya]

As a result of the centrifuge process. It is warmed enough to soften the fat and connective tissue, then run through a centrifuge to separate the meat from the fat. It is not an unlikely number and is a process used in the medical industry when testing blood.

I can also remove about 90% of the fat when cooking meats if I prep it at least 24 hours in advance. All I need to do that is water and a refrigerator.

Does it also cook out a bunch of the actual 'nutritional' value as well?

 

[Danoff]

The hilarious part about all of this is that someone will use this as an argument in favor of the FDA saying that this is the reason that private consumer advocates cannot be trusted, and that will be truly ironic since the FDA gave the go-ahead and private consumer advocates are the reason people are aware of it.

I'm with everyone else, I'm sure this is pretty much just tasty. I don't mind trace ammonia. I'm sure there's worse than that in my food.

 

[Azuremen]

I'm curious why irradiation wouldn't be a viable alternative to ammonia? Not that I'm particularly worried about the ammonia, given how it does keep things safe.

Having worked in the food industry, and done inspections for restaurants and so on, it is really quite impressive when you think how extensive the industry is. Get fresh foods to one place, process them, ship them out in a day and use them across the country. With no contamination basically. I honestly have more trouble trusting locally processed and handle "organic" foods than large scale stuff, simply because those small businesses are more likely to cut corners since they don't get watched as much.

 

[FoolKiller]

Does it also cook out a bunch of the actual 'nutritional' value as well?

Such as? Protein? Iron?

Honestly, my method probably would reduce some nutritional value. I know it does when dealing with vegetables. But if I just spun it around really fast so that the the different contents separated then I would damage the final product far less.



You sound like you have some information boneless lean beef trimmings that you aren't sharing. Please share, because the semi-doubtful, obscure comments are confusing. I almost feel like you are trying to disagree with me without actually saying it. If so, say it. I titled the thread "What's the big deal." I really want to know what I am missing, because so far even the biggest hit pieces could be describing making beef broth.

 

[niky]

Pink Slime?

Pink Slime?

So what does this make hotdogs and sausages (wrapped in pig's intestines, no less)?

Someone thinks of a stupid name for the stuff, and suddenly it's worse than trans-saturated fats, only without the research showing any negative health effects.

-

Perhaps we simply don't have the luxury of it here, but when we kill an animal, nothing goes to waste. Intestines for tripe. Bones for soup bases. Rib cuts, flank cuts, haunch, steaks... weird cuts turned into cubes for soups and assorted dishes, then everything left gets ground up for lean round.

Banning pink slime without any actual health reason would see uncounted tons of animal product go to waste. E-Coli? Have people not seen how dirty most raw beef and tripe is?

 

[FoolKiller]

Perhaps we simply don't have the luxury of it here, but when we kill an animal, nothing goes to waste. Intestines for tripe. Bones for soup bases. Rib cuts, flank cuts, haunch, steaks... weird cuts turned into cubes for soups and assorted dishes, then everything left gets ground up for lean round.

Same thing here, only now people realize it and don't like it.

But before this it didn't go to waste, it was fed to animals.

 

[Danoff]

So what does this make hotdogs and sausages (wrapped in pig's intestines, no less)?

This is an excellent point. If you're willing to eat a hotdog, pink slime is probably a step up.

 

[Ibonibo]

But we are agree that making soup or sauces out of bones is a completly different thing that this "slime"??

Also saussages is normally not made out of catilages and bones.

I believe this saying is omnipresent: you get what you pay for, buy cheap buy twice,...

And for the test of dangers of it, are there test in favor of it (and not made by a gouverement or lobby?)

I will be the first, but I am with Jamie on this.

Though I need to say, I generally have a problem with how food is made nowadays.
And no I have no problem with the whole meat process, even summerjob'ed at a butcher.

And the whole : but we need to protect us from e-coli.

look where there E-coli is coming from. The mass infection of e-coli on beef in the Us comes from how you raise and feed your cows.
If those cows could eat fresh or dry grass for the last 2 weeks before the butcher the e-coli problem would not exist

Bio all the way 👍 (there's a reason why kobe beef is the best)

And if money is a problem, we don't need to eat meat every day (that came with the industrialization of food) and it is even healthier.

 

[Bye Ya]

This is an excellent point. If you're willing to eat a hotdog, pink slime is probably a step up.

My friend's dad used to make hotdogs for Oscar Meyer... he won't eat them.

 

[Luminis]

And if money is a problem, we don't need to eat meat every day (that came with the industrialization of food) and it is even healthier.

Depends entirely on what you are doing and what kind of nutrition you need. If I wasn't eating meat almost every day, I'd have to resort to some sort of dietary supplement to get enough protein when working out.

Same goes for someone who's got to do lots of physical labour. No better way to get yourself some long lasting energy than low fat meat, really.

Seriously, as long as that stuff comes from actual animals, what's the big deal? It's not like there's a certain part of a pig or cow that's somehow poisonous, is there?

 

[Bye Ya]

I have another friend that is a sponsored runner. I was surprised to hear him say that he doesn't eat a lot of carbs before his races. He said he just stays very hydrated and will eat a small portion of lean meat the day of the race.

 

[ExigeEvan]

Pink Slime?
So what does this make hotdogs and sausages (wrapped in pig's intestines, no less)?

I'm glad someone brought it up! American hotdog sausages aren't exactly high quality cuts!

The flip side of this is simple, if we wasted all this potential food then people would be up in arms about the waste because of simple food snobbery!

And FYI, in Australia meat pies are labelled exactly that, meat. No specific kind of meat is required!