What are your opinions on "pink slime"?

[AquaEyes]

It's been popping up in the news again. For those unfamiliar, here are some links.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_slime

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-03/how-pink-slime-s-gruesome-predecessors-scared-congress.html

http://www.forbes.com/sites/mickeymeece/2012/04/03/pink-slime-takes-down-afa-foods/

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/04/03/republican-governors-rush-to-defend-pink-slime/

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/pink-slime-15873068

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/pink-slime-outrage-beef-industry-responds-15889823

It reminds me of the GMO debate. One side says it's safe and doesn't need to be labeled, while the other side says that not labeling removes their ability to choose as consumers.

Thoughts?

 

[bnjrob]

If the general public actually read and researched the various ingredients of their food, I think they would be surprised, if not shocked. Pink slime sounds disgusting but it's no worse than how meat packing plants make various items. I don't know many people that are willing to change their lifestyle to vegetarian/vegan/organic just because they find out what is REALLY in all the food they eat. Once the media storm is over, people will find something new to freak out about.

 

[punk-a-doodle]

I'm always for labeling...and for labeling in ways not controlled by the corporation that is being labeled (ie. the corporate push to call high fructose corn sugar). If I buy unbleached flour, I want to know if it was still processed further to speed up whitening. King Arthur brand flour specifies that they do not, so they get my money. Honey hasn't been labeling whether pollen has been strained out, or if high fructose has been used to "water it down" or fed to the bees, so all the more reason for me to buy local, unfiltered honey. The lack of reliable labeling is one major reason I am saving up to be able to produce my own food. Seafood is another area that is a mess when it comes to labeling. I have no interest in letting corporate interests decide what is and isn't safe for me to consume.

Commercial meat is already disgusting to me, so I'm really thankful that we now live in an area where I have access to and can afford pasture raised meat from local people.

 

[speckledhen]

When I read what all was in it, it hit me that it was all the stuff that my grandfather threw in the slop bucket for the hogs. Blech.

 

[JD4570]

In a word, nasty. If it's not an actual cut of meat I will not eat it! If I want ground meat it starts out as a cut that I grind. As for seafood it must be a fillet or whole shrimp. That' also the reason I raise my own chickens for eggs and meat, quality!!!

 

[AquaEyes]

Well, apparently this has been included in lots of human foods for the past 20 years or so, but consumers weren't aware. Now that they are, they're demanding products that don't contain it, and the processors are crying foul. From my perspective, it seems more like people found a way to sneak stuff that used to be discarded into human food to increase profits, and now they got found out and are trying to say "but you've been eating it for 20 years now."

It's one of many cases where the legal definitions of food terms are much more inclusive than the consumers think they are. And when people bounce back and forth between working for the producers and working for the government agencies that are supposed to regulate them, whose best-interests are in mind when the rules are written?

 

[cupman]

I gotta admit I started screening my purchases for the pink slime. It's getting boycotted all over, you wonder how many people lost their jobs over it. Anymore it's tempting to go buy a meat grinder and do my own. I saw tenderloin the other day for something cheap, it was like $2.55/lb. If I had a meat grinder I would have stocked up. Wish I had room for a couple cows.

 

[redhen]

Does anyone have an actual list of the ingredients that are in it?

 

[RHRanch]

When all of this first came out, my grandmother reminded my mother that she used to buy a cut of beef and then grind it into hamburger at home... That used to be common practice. Now we get pink slime. Ick!!!!

 

[chickened]

Just a guess here but there is probably more health risks associated with eating too much hamburger than with the 15% or less additive. I think it is just a debate/news generated controversy for viewer fodder more than a real risk.