Pink slime
Pink slime is a slang word for a type of mechanically recovered meat product. It's also known as boneless lean beef trimmings or lean finely textured beef, and is an industrial byproduct created from low quality beef trimmings treated with ammonia gas to render it acceptable for food health standards.
Overview
The processes to separate the beef parts in trimmings from the fat, which include the 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 to refer to the resulting products.
A 2012 ABC News investigative report indicated that 70 percent of ground beef (beef mince) sold in U.S. supermarkets contains pink slime, and that the USDA has allowed it to go unlabeled over the objection of a few of its own scientists.[2] A 2008 Washington Post article suggested that the pink slime content of most beef patties containing the substance approaches 25%.
The pink slime is sold in the U.S. to food companies which use it in ground beef production. Most is produced and sold by Cargill Meat Solutions and Beef Products, Inc. (BPI).[4][5] The lean beef sold by BPI introduces the beef to ammonium hydroxide, increasing the pH of the beef trimmings which destroys pathogens such as E. coli and Salmonella. The ammonium hydroxide dissipates quickly and leaves no residual[citation needed]. On the other hand, Cargill product uses antimicrobial treatments that lower the pH.[5][citation needed]
History
The typical beef production process of slaughtering and processing beef results in trimmings, which are left over bits from larger cuts of beef. These trimmings consist of fat and meat, and are then warmed to recover the oils as solid tallow and preserve the leftover beef for further human consumption.
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 ammonia gas to raise the pH and kill pathogens.
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.[3] 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.
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. BPI officials said they still have other fast food chains as customers but would not identify them.
In March 2012, after parents insisted that the additive be removed from public schools, the USDA indicated that it would give school districts the option of choosing ground beef containing pink slime or unadulterated beef with a higher level of fat.
Numerous supermarket chains have ceased carrying pink slime in their stores, including Publix, Costco, Safeway, Whole Foods Market, H-E-B, and SuperValu.
In March of 2012, Beef Products Inc. announced that it would be closing three of its four plants which produce the product.
Process
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 pathogens such as E. coli.
At the end of the process, the beef is at least 90 percent lean. It is used in meat supplies across the U.S. It rarely comprises more than 25 percent of the final meat product that consumers purchase and eat.
Controversy
A December 2009 New York Times article called into question the safety of the meat treated by this process, pointing to occasions in which process adjustments were not effective.[4] The following week, the newspaper published an editorial, "More Perils of Ground Meat," reiterating the concerns posed in the news article. Several days later, the editorial was appended with a retraction, stating that it had "said incorrectly that two 27,000-pound batches of processed beef had been recalled. The contamination of the meat was discovered by the company in its plant before the beef was shipped. No meat produced by Beef Products Inc. has been linked to any illnesses or outbreaks."
An episode of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution depicted Jamie Oliver's interpretation of the production process of pink slime, in which Oliver douses beef trimmings in liquid ammonia in front of parents. In videos produced by the American Meat Institute and Beef Products, food safety expert Dr. Gary Acuff of Texas A&M University was interviewed and identified potentially misleading[citation needed] inaccuracies in the Oliver segment.
Overview
The processes to separate the beef parts in trimmings from the fat, which include the 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 to refer to the resulting products.
A 2012 ABC News investigative report indicated that 70 percent of ground beef (beef mince) sold in U.S. supermarkets contains pink slime, and that the USDA has allowed it to go unlabeled over the objection of a few of its own scientists.[2] A 2008 Washington Post article suggested that the pink slime content of most beef patties containing the substance approaches 25%.
The pink slime is sold in the U.S. to food companies which use it in ground beef production. Most is produced and sold by Cargill Meat Solutions and Beef Products, Inc. (BPI).[4][5] The lean beef sold by BPI introduces the beef to ammonium hydroxide, increasing the pH of the beef trimmings which destroys pathogens such as E. coli and Salmonella. The ammonium hydroxide dissipates quickly and leaves no residual[citation needed]. On the other hand, Cargill product uses antimicrobial treatments that lower the pH.[5][citation needed]
History
The typical beef production process of slaughtering and processing beef results in trimmings, which are left over bits from larger cuts of beef. These trimmings consist of fat and meat, and are then warmed to recover the oils as solid tallow and preserve the leftover beef for further human consumption.
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 ammonia gas to raise the pH and kill pathogens.
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.[3] 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.
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. BPI officials said they still have other fast food chains as customers but would not identify them.
In March 2012, after parents insisted that the additive be removed from public schools, the USDA indicated that it would give school districts the option of choosing ground beef containing pink slime or unadulterated beef with a higher level of fat.
Numerous supermarket chains have ceased carrying pink slime in their stores, including Publix, Costco, Safeway, Whole Foods Market, H-E-B, and SuperValu.
In March of 2012, Beef Products Inc. announced that it would be closing three of its four plants which produce the product.
Process
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 pathogens such as E. coli.
At the end of the process, the beef is at least 90 percent lean. It is used in meat supplies across the U.S. It rarely comprises more than 25 percent of the final meat product that consumers purchase and eat.
Controversy
A December 2009 New York Times article called into question the safety of the meat treated by this process, pointing to occasions in which process adjustments were not effective.[4] The following week, the newspaper published an editorial, "More Perils of Ground Meat," reiterating the concerns posed in the news article. Several days later, the editorial was appended with a retraction, stating that it had "said incorrectly that two 27,000-pound batches of processed beef had been recalled. The contamination of the meat was discovered by the company in its plant before the beef was shipped. No meat produced by Beef Products Inc. has been linked to any illnesses or outbreaks."
An episode of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution depicted Jamie Oliver's interpretation of the production process of pink slime, in which Oliver douses beef trimmings in liquid ammonia in front of parents. In videos produced by the American Meat Institute and Beef Products, food safety expert Dr. Gary Acuff of Texas A&M University was interviewed and identified potentially misleading[citation needed] inaccuracies in the Oliver segment.
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