A Small Triumph in the Food Industry Fight - No More Pink Slime!

I just read this news post on U.S. News – McDonald’s is discontinuing its use of the “pink slime.” You may not have been aware of this, but that’s what you’ve been eating every time you ate a burger from McDonald’s. And they aren’t the only ones!

I remember when I saw this clip by Jamie Oliver from his Food Revolution show. He demonstrated how meat manufacturers take scraps of meat and turn it into “edible pink slime.”  It made my stomach turn…seriously. I can’t believe what our government has allowed to be passed as food for so many years. Really – who is looking out for the consumers?

Pink slime, in case you aren’t aware, is formed from a scrap meat separating process. The meat manufacturers take scraps that would normally be considered the lowest level of meat and most likely discarded or used for dog food, and treat it with ammonium-hydroxide and run it through a machine. This creates a meat-like paste that Jamie Oliver referred to as pink slime. And this is what they make burger patties from and sell them to fast-food chains everywhere. Gross.

According to the USDA, it’s a process and therefore not an ingredient. So, manufacturers of this pink slime do not have to include the ammonium-hydroxide on their food labels. Leaving consumers none the wiser as to the origin of their meat. And it’s not only beef – this process is used in poultry and pork, as well.

According to Todd Bacon, McDonald’s senior supply chain officer, McDonald’s  discontinued using the pink slime at the beginning of the year and are complying with social interests in the food supply.

He further claimed in a statement to the Daily Mail that the decision “was not related to any particular event, but rather to support our effort to align our global beef raw material standards.”

Well, whether it was or wasn’t related to Jamie Oliver’s show, it seems as though our cries for higher food standards are slowly having an affect. I’m ecstatic to hear that at least McDonald’s is smart enough to listen when the consumer speaks out.

One battle won…many more to go.

To a longer, healthier and happier life.

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