Pinkslime

Even though the USDA has said that it will not harm consumers, we deserve to know what is in the food we consume and what our children are really eating for school lunches. Disclosure labels should be required on packages containing pink slime. And it should be listed on school lunch menus.

Pink slime is made from fatty meat scraps and bones that are heated to remove most of the fat, and treated with ammonium hydroxide gas to kill bacteria such as E. coli and salmonella. The USDA says the product is safe. Pink slime is packaged in blocks and is used as filler in ground beef. It is said that over 70% of ground beef sold in super markets contain “pink slime”. I had no idea that this sub product was used in ground beef.

Pink Slime has been used for a long time but there was never much awareness of it until it was recently announced that it was being used in our children’s lunches at school. Federal lunch programs have been purchasing pink slime for years for our children’s lunches. With all the controversy over healthy lunches in our schools it is surprising to hear about the use of pink slime.

(Rico, 2012). “The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Thursday that districts that get food through the government's school-lunch program will be allowed to say no to ground beef containing filler derisively called "pink slime" and choose filler-free meat instead. What's not clear is how much the switch might cost and whether it could lead to price increases for school lunches.” For those of you who do pay for school lunches it is not cheap. It costs me $6.50 daily to have both of my children eat hot lunches at school. I can pack lunches for less and know what they are really eating.

Most fast food chains use beef treated with pink slime. Last August McDonald's announced it has stopped using pink slime in the production of its hamburgers. MSNBC reports that the chemical, used in fertilizers, household cleaners and even homemade explosives, was also used to...