Pink Slime

On March 7, 2012 a former USDA scientist turned whistle blower said 70% of the ground beef we buy contains beef trimming fillers that used to be reserved for dog food and cooking oil. A retired USDA microbiologist also said the trimmings are put back into most ground beef; it’s heated at a low temperature to separate the muscle and fat, the excess fat is spun out, the remaining product is sprayed with ammonia gas to kill bacteria, the mixture (called pink slime by the USDA scientist) is formed into bricks and sent to meat packers who put it the meat.

Years ago, over the objections of the inspectors, the former Under Secretary of Agriculture, with ties to the meat industry, refused to have the filler put on labels separately – saying it’s pink so it must be meat. The former Under Secretary got a job on either Food Inc.’s or BPI’s board of directors (it wasn’t made clear in the report) and the USDA said her appointment was legal then but not now (changes in ethnic laws).

The last glimpse of Food Inc. (the manufacturer who calls the filler finely textured lean beef) was 6 years ago by Magnolia Pictures. The March report said that the only thing that’s sure is that if your meat is labeled USDA Organic it is actually meat and everything else is suspect. Due to people’s questions ABC News asked the market chains if their meat contained the filler and the only ones that responded saying that their meat doesn’t were: Costco, Publix, HEB and Whole Foods (this means Safeway, WalMart and every other large chain does).  

BPI the creator of the pink slime said it is USDA approved and it is nutritious while the American Meat Institute said it’s not an additive, it’s a beef product, so no label is necessary as the filler is being declared beef. The USDA has refused to respond to ABC’s requests for their current stand on the matter. 

Whether the pink slime is harmful or not doesn’t seem to be an issue here so I’m thinking that the fat content in our meat is higher than the label states. You can form your own opinion.