Ground Beef Stinks

[Skittle68]

I first learned about "pink slime" several years ago from the documentary "Food Inc" (which is very entertaining and informative, and if you haven't seen it, you should). I was pretty shocked and disgusted, and I'm surprised it didn't cause public outrage sooner. Seriously, you should go out and get that movie.

 

[Barryl.ashworth]

I would bet that "pink slime" is most commonly added to pre-formed frozen patties. I don't think you could handle slimed burger if it wasn't frozen. It would probably be way too thin.

 

[blissful]

I first learned about "pink slime" several years ago from the documentary "Food Inc" (which is very entertaining and informative, and if you haven't seen it, you should). I was pretty shocked and disgusted, and I'm surprised it didn't cause public outrage sooner. Seriously, you should go out and get that movie.

Is this video the same as what you are talking about?
Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution: Pink Slime - 70% of America's Beef is Treated with Ammonia - YouTube

 

[Steve Kroll]

We have to make compromises. I do ask my food not kill me when I eat it, which means it isn't hiding little things in it like E Coli and Salmonella. If the only way to get to that is gas it then that is what needs doing.

All the more reason to look for small farm meat sources. The prevalence of dangerous e. coli strains is a problem created by the modern beef industry. The presence of harmful e. coli colonies in traditional grass fed animals is very low. Animals raised in feed lots and fed grain diets harbor more than 300 times as many e. coli in their intestines as pastured cattle.

The waste products from these animals also spread the bacteria through ground water run-off or being used as fertilizer. This is the reason you see e. coli, a gut bacteria, show up in spinach and other vegetable sources.

If your food were raised properly, it wouldn't require gassing at all.

 

[FrankZ]

At what point is it too much? They grind up beef. Everyone is already suspisious of ground beef to start with. Are they also supposed to say may contain ____ and list every single muscle that may have gone in? What if this week there was no chuck added?

Do they also list things like silicon grease may be found? Someone breathed around the meat and they may have chewed a minty piece of gum after a smoke.

In the end I just don't see this as a huge evil conspiracy. They are selling ground beef. They aren't using the cows eyeballs.

 

[blissful]

They aren't using the cows eyeballs.

It's beef. Are you sure, when should we start caring?

 

[FrankZ]

It's beef. Are you sure, when should we start caring?

Eyeballs aren't meat. They aren't the "less desirable pieces" used in LFTB.

 

[taxlady]

I think I would rather have eyeballs.

E. coli in the food generally means that there is poop in the food. How many of us want "safe poop" in our food.

 

[blissful]

Eyeballs aren't meat. They aren't the "less desirable pieces" used in LFTB.

*I* believe they are meat, beef meat, ground meat, call it anything you want, it's still 'ground beef'.
I haven't seen a source that will say 'ground beef' is anything besides ground pieces of beef, including everything you'd use for dog food, cattle food, baloney, and sausage (and haggis).
If the beef industry can't be honest about the kinds of things they use in ground beef, then, they can't be honest, to make a buck.
And I as a consumer have a right to know what I'm buying.

 

[FrankZ]

In that case never by anything ground. You just don't know. Seriously.. how do you KNOW the ground beef you are buying is actually from a cow? Because the label says so?

 

[Skittle68]

Is this video the same as what you are talking about?
Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution: Pink Slime - 70% of America's Beef is Treated with Ammonia - YouTube

Nope- food inc is a full length documentary, and ammonia treated beef filler is just one of the many things it mentions. I like it because it doesn't try to scare you or just tell you how evil the corporations are or something, it talks about practical solutions, and shows lots of people who are actually trying to do something about the health and safety of our food industry, and the people who make their living providing it.

 

[Skittle68]

Just watched the video- no it is not like what they show you in food inc. they actually take you inside a plant where it is made and show you the process, the actual product, and the people who make it and think its a great idea.

 

[blissful]

Skittle--if I ever get the chance to watch the food nation you are talking about, I will, thank you.

FrankZ, I do NOT know what you are trying to say.
Do I expect my ground beef to be a cow or steer of beef, YES.
Do I expect it to be made of meat (not including eyeballs, noses and veins)? YES.

It's just like expecting corn meal to be made of ground corn, in the normal sense of corn kernels and not the stalks from the corn.

It's just like expecting wheat flour to be made of wheat seeds that are ground, not the stalks.

I DO expect the label to say what is in the package and those words to actually mean what they say, within the common knowledge definition. So beef is beef, cow or steer, not a garbage by-product, it may contain fat, common in most beef and fat is ACCEPTABLE by most consumers. Veins, eyeballs, hoof, internal organs, brains, sinuous tissue--none of that is acceptable. That is what I expect.

I will not start believing that I can't understand the definition of *IS* is. Nor will most people.

(except of course, HAM burger--is not made of HAM, is it?)

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

In that case never by anything ground. You just don't know. Seriously.. how do you KNOW the ground beef you are buying is actually from a cow? Because the label says so?

You don't know, but here in the US the we have the USDA and FDA to inspect our food, and I hope they occasionally do species tests (DNA) to make sure that our beef is really beef and not dog, cat, skunk, squirrel or all the other possibilities...

 

[FrankZ]

FrankZ, I do NOT know what you are trying to say.
Do I expect my ground beef to be a cow or steer of beef, YES.
Do I expect it to be made of meat (not including eyeballs, noses and veins)? YES.

What I am saying is that LFTB is BEEF. It is made from muscle, which is meat. It isn't made from eyeballs, veins, noses or veins. It is taken from meat that is more susceptible during processing to being contaminated and processed. Part of the processing is decontamination with the ammonia gas. This means they take parts close to the cows end, where they start the skinning process. It doesn't mean they use eyeballs.

Just because they process it doesn't mean the USDA is going to let them slip in the cows eyes.

Someone called it slime so it is bad. Had what's his name called it pink filler it wouldn't seem so bad. Had he called it pink gold it would be carried in every upscale food boutique.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

This means they take parts close to the cows end...

Please tell me there are no anal sphincters in pink slime.

 

[Caslon]

I suppose everyone's heard this, but one of the biggest pink slime manufacturers has filed for bankruptcy, due in part to the media attention it garnered. I was surprised at how many tons of the stuff they produced each year (over 700 million pounds every year).

Was it ever established what percentage of pink slime was added to what?

 

[Andy M.]

...Was it ever established what percentage of pink slime was added to what?

The Jaime Oliver video clip said up to 15% of the product could be PS.

 

[Caslon]

Ammonia is great at removing odors. The reason it's used to make pink slime is probably more complex than that.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

Ammonia is great at removing odors. The reason it's used to make pink slime is probably more complex than that.

It is ammonia gas. I understand it is used because it is a bactericide, it kills bacteria.

Up to 15 percent?!? !?! OMG!!! I had thought we were discussing a few, maybe 2-3 percent...

Anybody up for an experiment? Let's buy some pink slime and try to cook it up into a hamburger--a slime burger! Maybe more accurate to call it a "slime booger."

That would be a cool move for some big time blogger or national media reporter: buy some pink slime and try to cook something with it. Remember you heard this idea from me first, here on the forum!