Judy H,

I agree on taste...I don't think there's any comparison between fresh ground beef from the butcher and the product that is pre packaged in an artificial environment.

From where and why did ground beef orginally come about? It was really pushed in the early part of the 20th century because it made beef production so much more efficient. There was huge public resistance and the beef industry had to spend large to convince people that it was safe to eat. This seems to be another turn at that wheel, but now were all very accustomed to eating ground beef.

Mmmm. Tepid scraps of beef spun in a centrifuge to remove the pesky fat. Pumped through stainless steel tubes and marinated in nature's own ammonia, good old NH3, just like your mommy used to spray on her award winning meatcake. You can taste the pride of country in our products! Just one bite of Uncle Habibi's 100% American Meat Paste will have your bowels (and lips) quivering for more! Made in Mauritania.

Sign in the window at Reams' Meat Market in Elburn:

Pink-Slime Free for 108 Years

tcdup wrote:Sign in the window at Reams' Meat Market in Elburn:

Pink-Slime Free for 108 Years

thats funny/interesting.

A few of the many small butchers I hit in my travels have mentioned customers asking if theire is pink slime in their ground chuck the last few weeks.

at least we now have Alton Brown telling folks the ticket to avoid pink slime is to: "hand the cuts to your butcher and have them grind them or better yet grind them yourself". Like this is some fantastic, unknown secret.

I removed my original post since Jim edited his original post and also clarified that his quote came from Alton's twitter feed, not the 2000 episode on ground beef.

Huh? Maybe my irony/sarcasm/facetiosity (sp?) app is a bit slow today, Darren, but I don't get your point. Which is?

Sorry...

Geo

twitter feed.

just made me roll my eyes nothing more, especially the retweets, like its groundbreaking info.

back to grinding our own meat!
Purchased a 16# round of sirloin at $2.98/#, cut into strips with Dexter Sani-Safe 12" cimitar, used trusty Kitchenaid grinder, nice about 5% fat ground beef for dog and us. It ' so lean that for a burger it needs a piece of butter.
I 'm done trusting any food supply. If the meat producers had told the consumers that we are adding thi product into your ground beef, then that't one thing but to do it withiut telling the consumer in unconsionable . (crappy -Apple iPad spell checking)-Dick

Marion Nestle has a few nice posts about the science and politics behind the "pink slime" controversy:

“Pink Slime:” Some questions about what’s really at stake

The dilemma of pink slime: cost or culture?

I’ve been lobbied! Intense efforts to save pink slime aimed at governors, USDA officials, and me

For those still looking for the elusive picture of this meat product, here is an article and photo courtesy of the Trib:

Article: 'Pink slime' processor files for Chapter 11

Photo: Beef byproducts are processed at the Beef Products plant in South Sioux City, Neb. (Nati Harnik/Reuters / April 2, 2012)

From the accompanying article:

In the affidavit filed as part of the bankruptcy, interim CEO Ron Allen noted that the company has struggled for the past two years in a competitive industry marked by overcapacity and thin profit margins. He said AFA's profits have suffered because of decreasing retail demand, costly customer demands for product testing and growing competition from different types of meat.

Those pesky customers and their demands for product testing!

jesteinf wrote:Those pesky customers and their demands for product testing!

Not to mention competition from different types of meat. Nice bankruptcy legalese in that petition.

Darren72 wrote:For those still looking for the elusive picture of this meat product, here is an article and photo courtesy of the Trib:

Article: 'Pink slime' processor files for Chapter 11

Mmmm...meat on big metal rollers...

Forgive me if this was discussed elsewhere in this thread:
I never really knew about ammonia being added to food until this pink slime scandal. How is this acceptable to put in food? I thought ammonia was toxic—is there a food grade version, like food-grade lye?

Pie Lady wrote:Forgive me if this was discussed elsewhere in this thread:

I never really knew about ammonia being added to food until this pink slime scandal. How is this acceptable to put in food? I thought ammonia was toxic—is there a food grade version, like food-grade lye?

How is arsenic safe in apple juice? It's all about concentrations. Our bodies contain ammonia, it's used in a lot of food processes. Some cheese fermentation produces ammonia as a natural process. The concentrations used in "pink slime" were inconsequential, it's just sensationalistic reporting.

"Food-grade" just means that it was otherwise unadulterated in processing and packaging. Lye (sodium hydroxide) is chemically the same whether it's "food grade" or industrial. There's no "safe" form of lye, just a "purer" (no possibility of anything else mixed in) form. So, yes, we use caustic, toxic lye to make pretzels, cure olives, etc. But by the time it gets to our mouths the concentration is negligible. Ditto ammonia in beef processing.

spinynorman99 wrote:

Pie Lady wrote:Forgive me if this was discussed elsewhere in this thread:

I never really knew about ammonia being added to food until this pink slime scandal. How is this acceptable to put in food? I thought ammonia was toxic—is there a food grade version, like food-grade lye?

How is arsenic safe in apple juice? It's all about concentrations. Our bodies contain ammonia, it's used in a lot of food processes. Some cheese fermentation produces ammonia as a natural process. The concentrations used in "pink slime" were inconsequential, it's just sensationalistic reporting.

"Food-grade" just means that it was otherwise unadulterated in processing and packaging. Lye (sodium hydroxide) is chemically the same whether it's "food grade" or industrial. There's no "safe" form of lye, just a "purer" (no possibility of anything else mixed in) form. So, yes, we use caustic, toxic lye to make pretzels, cure olives, etc. But by the time it gets to our mouths the concentration is negligible. Ditto ammonia in beef processing.

Spiny,

Are you saying that the ammonia in pink slime occurred naturally? That's what it sounds like you're saying.

aschie30 wrote:

spinynorman99 wrote:

Pie Lady wrote:Forgive me if this was discussed elsewhere in this thread:

I never really knew about ammonia being added to food until this pink slime scandal. How is this acceptable to put in food? I thought ammonia was toxic—is there a food grade version, like food-grade lye?

Are you saying that the ammonia in pink slime occurred naturally? That's what it sounds like you're saying.

Ammonia, (and to a lesser degree citric acid... good ole vitamin C), is mixed in with the trim to kill unwanted organisms. Basically it is an industrialized method of removing trim from otherwise unusable, (for human consumption) beef trim. As was stated earlier in the thread, the trumpeting of ammonia is sensationalism at it's finest.

tortminder wrote:Ammonia, (and to a lesser degree citric acid... good ole vitamin C), is mixed in with the trim to kill unwanted organisms. Basically it is an industrialized method of removing trim from otherwise unusable, (for human consumption) beef trim. As was stated earlier in the thread, the trumpeting of ammonia is sensationalism at it's finest.

People will disagree on whether the trumpeting of ammonia is/was sensationalism at its finest, but I think Pie Lady's question was directed at the practice of adding ammonia to food to make it "safer." I was asking for clarification from Spiny, because his answer made it sound (to me) like it was a normal, naturally occurring process, which it's apparently not with pink slime. Thanks for clarifying.

aschie30 wrote:

spinynorman99 wrote:

Pie Lady wrote:Forgive me if this was discussed elsewhere in this thread:

I never really knew about ammonia being added to food until this pink slime scandal. How is this acceptable to put in food? I thought ammonia was toxic—is there a food grade version, like food-grade lye?

How is arsenic safe in apple juice? It's all about concentrations. Our bodies contain ammonia, it's used in a lot of food processes. Some cheese fermentation produces ammonia as a natural process. The concentrations used in "pink slime" were inconsequential, it's just sensationalistic reporting.

"Food-grade" just means that it was otherwise unadulterated in processing and packaging. Lye (sodium hydroxide) is chemically the same whether it's "food grade" or industrial. There's no "safe" form of lye, just a "purer" (no possibility of anything else mixed in) form. So, yes, we use caustic, toxic lye to make pretzels, cure olives, etc. But by the time it gets to our mouths the concentration is negligible. Ditto ammonia in beef processing.

Spiny,

Are you saying that the ammonia in pink slime occurred naturally? That's what it sounds like you're saying.

No, I didn't say that anywhere. I'm just saying that the alarmism of ammonia=Windex=poison is unfounded.

I am 100% in agreement that the use of "pink slime" should have been noted on packaging (in an obviously less sensationalistic manner) along with the fact that it was treated with ammonia. I'm 100% behind full disclosure in consumer goods and foods. But I'm also a bit surprised at the amount of misinformation bandied about.

aschie30 wrote:

tortminder wrote:Ammonia, (and to a lesser degree citric acid... good ole vitamin C), is mixed in with the trim to kill unwanted organisms. Basically it is an industrialized method of removing trim from otherwise unusable, (for human consumption) beef trim. As was stated earlier in the thread, the trumpeting of ammonia is sensationalism at it's finest.

People will disagree on whether the trumpeting of ammonia is/was sensationalism at its finest, but I think Pie Lady's question was directed at the practice of adding ammonia to food to make it "safer." I was asking for clarification from Spiny, because his answer made it sound (to me) like it was a normal, naturally occurring process, which it's apparently not with pink slime. Thanks for clarifying.

I apologize if I made it sound that way, it wasn't my intention. But it does raise the question of whether we need to add (as an example) "treated/processed with lye" to olives or pretzels, because the lye doesn't develop from the product itself. I mean, if full disclosure is important then it should be consistent.

Ammonia is also used as leavening in some baked goods, particularly old-fashioned German, Scandinavian and Greek recipes. You have to be careful with baker's ammonia -- use too much and your cookies will taste like Windex.