No “Pink Slime” for Me!
I’ve been busy organizing, cleaning and packing in preparation for the big move, but I haven’t been completely oblivious to the news… like the recent ABC News report on “pink slime.” According to ABC journalist Jim Avila, “lean, finely textured beef” (aka “pink slime”) is a commonly used filler added to commercial ground beef. The catch is, because it’s “beef,” manufacturers and retailers are not required to note its presence on the label.
As a Food Science type, I’m not nearly as grossed out by the stuff as – say – Jamie Oliver, who’s made quite a fuss about it. On the one hand – yes, it’s aesthetically unappealing. On the other, however, I “get” why it exists… beef is a pricey commodity, so it pays to be able to efficiently extract every last bit of edible meat from a carcass. Waste not, want not and all that. Assuming its as safe as the USDA claims, I don’t really have a problem with pink slime from a general health/safety perspective.
I do, however, have a “beef” with the stuff from a consumer perspective! Lean, high-quality ground beef isn’t cheap… and I would be pretty p***ed off to discover that meat I’m paying a premium price for is being cut with cheap-o recycled beef paste (and in the ABC video below, Fred Meyer – one of the stores I shop at – refused to affirm or deny using it. Needless to state, this non-response doesn’t exactly inspire confidence). That’s cheating. If I buy 95% lean ground beef, I expect it to be composed of fresh, well-trimmed meat pushed into the grinder on one end, and sealed into a package on the other – with no pet chow-quality meat by-products added in the process.
What to do under the circumstances? As I see it, there are two options: 1) buy ground beef at stores/markets that don’t use pink slime (the video above mentions several possibilities); and 2) get a meat grinder and make my own ground beef from whole, lean cuts. For the record, I’m leaning towards option #2 – turns out that good quality countertop grinders aren’t that expensive! Gonna look into it as soon as we get settled in our new digs.
March 13, 2012
I guess I have never paid that much attention. I had never heard of “pink slime”. I agree with you that if you pay the price we pay now-a-days for lean ground beef, it should be lean ground beef.
The grind your own sounds like a good idea. We just purchased, from a local farmer, a half of beef. It was ground at a local butcher with no fillers.