Friday, March 9, 2012

I'll Have a Little Pink Slime with That!


ABC news recently ran a story on the filler used in ground meat that consumers purchase everyday at the grocery store called, "70 Percent of Ground Beef at Supermarkets Contains ‘Pink Slime’". I've posted an excerpt and link to the full article below. Do with this information what you will, but I don't eat and won't be eating any red or pink meat in the foreseeable future. I'm just sayin'...

Image Credit: Brian Yarvin/Getty Images

Here is an excerpt:

Gerald Zirnstein grinds his own hamburger these days. Why? Because this former United States Department of Agriculture scientist and, now, whistleblower, knows that 70 percent of the ground beef we buy at the supermarket contains something he calls “pink slime.”

“Pink slime” is beef trimmings. Once only used in dog food and cooking oil, the trimmings are now sprayed with ammonia so they are safe to eat and added to most ground beef as a cheaper filler.

It was Zirnstein who, in an USDA memo, first coined the term “pink slime” and is now coming forward to say he won’t buy it.

“It’s economic fraud,” he told ABC News. “It’s not fresh ground beef. … It’s a cheap substitute being added in.”

Zirnstein and his fellow USDA scientist, Carl Custer, both warned against using what the industry calls “lean finely textured beef,” widely known now as “pink slime,” but their government bosses overruled them.

Read the full story: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/03/70-percent-of-ground-beef-at-supermarkets-contains-pink-slime/

Be good to yourself! More next time...