Governors try to rescue "pink slime" production

Craig Letch, director of food quality and assurance for Beef Products Inc. (BPI), left, introduces the beef product known as pink slime or lean finely textured beef, and the cuts from which it is made to, from left: Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, South Dakota Lt. Gov. Matt Michels and Nebraska Lt. Gov. Rick Sheehy, during a tour Thursday, March 29, 2012, of the Beef Products Inc.'s plant in South Sioux City, Neb., where the beef product is made. / AP

(AP) SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Neb. - Governors of three states got up close with "pink slime" Thursday, touching and examining treated beef at a plant and eating hamburgers made with it in a bid to persuade grossed-out consumers and grocery stores the product is safe to consume.

The three governors and two lieutenant governors spent about a half hour learning about the process of creating finely-textured lean beef in a tour of the main plant that makes the product, then blasted the media for scaring consumers with a moniker coined by critics.

"If you called it finely textured lean beef, would we be here?" asked Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback. Several other leaders echoed his comments as they tried to smooth over consumer concerns about the product.

Beef Products, the main producer of the cheap lean beef made from fatty bits of meat left over from other cuts, has drawn scrutiny over concerns about the ammonium hydroxide it treats meat with to change the beef's acidity and kill bacteria. The company suspended operations at plants in Texas, Kansas and Iowa this week, affecting 650 jobs, but defends its product as safe.

The politicians who toured the plant — Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Brownback, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, Nebraska Lt. Gov. Rick Sheehy and South Dakota Lt. Gov. Matt Michels- all agree with the industry view that the beef has been unfairly maligned and mislabeled and issued a joint statement earlier saying the product is safe.

"Why are we here today defending a company that has a rather sterling record dealing with making a food product that is very much needed in this country in a very safe manner? Why are we here today?" Perry said.

The officials spent about 20 minutes going over the production process in a separate room at the plant with Craig Letch, the company's director of quality assurance, viewing and handling more than a dozen slabs of raw meat and the processed, finished product laid out on cutting boards on a round wooden table.

The officials asked about the added ammonia, which Letch said is used as an extra safety precaution against E. Coli.

"What we're doing with ammonium hydroxide is directly targeting those specific microorganisms that could affect human health. It is nothing more than something to ensure consumer safety," Letch said as the politicians bent over the raw cuts of beef.

The officials donned hard hats, hair nets and goggles for a brief walking tour through the facility. Workers manned conveyor belts of meat cuts that ran from one side of the room to the other in the chilled room; the ammonium hydroxide treatment process was not visible; plant officials say that's because it binds with moisture in the meat in an aerated process.

From left, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, and Nebraska Lt. Gov. Rick Sheehy eat hamburgers which contain the beef product known as pink slime, or lean finely textured beef, following a news conference in South Sioux City, Neb., March 29, 2012.

/ CBS/AP

Afterward, Perry, Branstad and others ate burgers made from the plant's meat at a news conference.

"It's lean. It's good. It's nutritious," Branstad said as he polished off a patty, sans bun.

Larry Smith, with the Institute for Crisis Management public relations firm, said he's not sure the makers of the product — including Cargill and BPI — will be able to overcome the public stigma against their product at this point.

"I can't think of a single solitary message that a manufacturer could use that would resonate with anybody right now," Smith said.

Russell Cross, a former administrator of the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, said the product is getting a bad rap from a food safety standpoint.

"I'm not saying it's perfectly safe. Nothing is perfectly safe. All food is going to have bacteria in it. But this product has never been in question for safety," he said.

Cross said that ammonia is just one tool designed to reduce bacteria and help make the food safer. The process Cargill uses, by comparison, uses citric acid to achieve similar results.

The finished product contains only a trace of ammonia, as do many other foods, and it's meant just to be an additional "hurdle for the pathogens," said Cross, who is now head of the Department of Animal Science at Texas A&M University.

The ammonium hydroxide BPI uses is also used in baked goods, puddings and other processed foods.

National Meat Association spokesman Jeremy Russell said if consumers insist on eliminating the product from ground beef, prices will go up and lean beef trimmings will have to be imported to replace it. The process of creating lean, finely textured beef yields about 12 to 15 pounds of additional meat per animal.

Russell said the outcry has already hurt BPI and other meat companies, and could eventually hurt the price that ranchers and feedlots receive for cattle.

BPI did get some good news Wednesday when Iowa-based grocer Hy-Vee said it would offer beef with and without pink slime because some consumers demanded the option. But larger grocery store chains, such as Kroger, have stuck with their decisions to stop offering beef with pink slime.

The real test may come later this year when school districts purchase meat from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for next school year. The USDA said earlier this month that it would give school districts a choice between 95 percent lean beef that contains pink slime and less-lean beef without it.

Russell said school districts will have to decide whether they're willing to spend roughly 16 percent more for beef without pink slime.

The USDA this year is contracted to buy 111.5 million pounds of ground beef for the National School Lunch Program. About 7 million pounds of that is from BPI.

[BLTmedia]

For nearly $1 million dollars in campaign contributions you can get a politician to do just about anything - so why not feed them 100% ammonia treated pink slime - heck if ammonia is so natural - why not have a glass with their burger ... then i'll be convinced I should be eating pink slime. Read this:
http://www.unifiedlifestyle.com/blog/2012/04/01/the-war-on-slime-%E2%80%A6-beef-producer-crying-over-spilt-bilk/#respond

[liberalmike]

Slime-ball republican's advocating slime......priceless!

[wildemanne]

like pigs flocking to hogslop so goes the repubs porkers to feast upon the bones of the lower/middle class

[Charley Burford]

The problem is that it was "snuck" into our food products and we really didn't understand that it was in there. Now that is slimy--the pun is fully intended. If the food industry continues to be given a pass on what it wants to do by the government oversight organizations, then in the future there will be even more horrific discoveries of what is being put in our food. How do we know what pink slime is made from--I'm sure that in time, meat from any and every source will begin to be used in it, including human flesh. It's a slippery,slimy slope from pink slime to soylent green. It might already be happening from all the meat scraps purchased from overseas. Who knows what is in those containers? Does it every get a close inspection? Beyond that, more and more evidence indicates that all meat is unhealthful, and there is really no good reason to eat it at all, except that we are reluctant to change our ways and very resistant to giving up what we are accustomed to. The best way to protect yourself from the horrors of the meat industry is to stop eating it. You'll feel better, avoid serious illnesses of many types, help the environment, and last but not least, spare the torture and suffering of billions of animals.

[Conservative08]

Pink Slime is the name of my short story that has reporter Digger Cavanaugh investigating Pink Slime. It is a fictional tale that uses real facts and the outcome is not what you would expect. Go to pinkslime dot US for eBook availability. As discussed in Pink Slime, the issue is less about the safety of the beef and more about government paternalism and lack of transparency. But it may be more insidious. The WTO is controlling our packaging laws and just perhaps progressive vegans and environmentalists want the negative connotations to continue so as to 'protect the environment' and 'nudge' people away from methane producing beef.

As an author, am I biased? Yes. I have three head of grass fed Highland/Angus cattle on my property because I want to know what's in my beef and I don't trust government to be honest with us. Is the story biased? I strive for objectivity. I'll let you decide if I succeeded. This is the first story in the Muckraker Series, which I plan to use to expose numerous media-untouched topics. much like The Carbon Series exposes the potential disaster of mankind's attempts to control CO2 going awry and threatening all life on Earth.

[jimatmadison]

Campaign contribution by pink slime manufacturer BPI to Iowa governor Terry Branstad - $152,000

Watching him try to claim that had nothing to do with his fecal photo op - priceless.

[jimatmadison]

"the cheap lean beef made from fatty bits of meat left over from other cuts"

The stuff is disgusting no matter what, but how do you make "lean beef" out of "fatty bits of meat"?

Suggestions?

[Lindag10]

Add in some red food color and it'l look NICE and LEAN.

[jimatmadison]

The reason that pink slime is so heavily treated with nasty chemicals is to kill the fecal pathogens.

So what these Republican politicians (supposedly) are eating is stuff that the slaughterhouse knows has extras loads of cow manure in it, but in order to make it 'safe', they've run it through some processes that kill the bugs in the manure.

The fact that you can make cow manure 'safe' to eat doesn't mean that I want it in my food, or in my local school's lunchroom.

[Whatthefreak]

I don't know what the problem is. I spray ammonia on all my foods to make sure I stay healthy. Seriously? Anyone want power as bad as those freaks. I buy locally raised beef from a single cow butchered locally. The chuck roast is better than any filet mignon ribeye or porterhouse that I have had at any steakhouse. And I have been around. There is no comparison between the hamburger I get and the crap they sell at any fast food.

[blindersoff]

Just label truthfully and the public will decide. Given a choice I don't want to eat it. I'm sorry about the jobs but that's not enough reason to allow them to keep selling this ammonia treated scrapped beef.

[YouNeekYouSirNaim]

You know Pink Slime is BAD for you if even McDonald's no longer supposedly doesn't allow it in their burgers anymore. If these governors are trying to suggest that Pink Slime is perfectly safe...shouldn't they have eaten 100% Pink Slime meat.