Pink Slime: Get the Facts

• Real name: Lean finely textured beef
• About 95% lean (lower in fat than many other beef products)
• Approved by the FDA for nearly 40 years
• Often added to ground beef to increase the amount of protein
• Made using machines that extract more beef than otherwise possible, therefore producing more beef with less cows
• Contains a tiny amount of ammonia

So why all the hoopla? Why are restaurants and school cafeterias dropping pink slime left and right?

One reason is simply that finely textured beef looks kind of gross in its raw form and when coupled with the nickname ‘pink slime’ is especially unappetizing. Many people remember learning about Upton Sinclair’s meat-packing expose The Jungle (many claims of which were false even by Sinclair’s later admission) in high school and we harbor a fear that disgusting ingredients are hidden in our meat. I also have a pet theory that those of us who eat meat are at some deep level a little disgusted and even a tiny bit guilty that we consume animal flesh, and this type of thing brings out those buried feelings.

There may also be a political agenda at work here (surprise). Jeff Stier, senior fellow at the National Center for Public Policy Research, writes that “the real (and ridiculous) agenda here is to make us all go organic.” And even if it can’t make that big of an impact on our eating habits, it can still be used by grandstanding politicians as another false threat they can pretend to protect us from.

(Hat tips to ConsumerFreedom.com & Townhall.com)