Americans Eat Pink Slime in Their Burgers
B. McPherson Many Americans are eating Pink Slime in their burger patties. Not all, of course, those that can afford a better grade of hamburger made from freshly ground beef that’s not been frozen won’t be eating Pink Slime. Poor kids eating subsidized school lunches get to eat it. What is Pink Slime? It does have other names. Big Agro calls it Lean finely textured beef (LFTB) or Boneless lean beef trimmings (BLBT). In an attempt to use as much of a beef carcass as possible for the food trade, some companies have come up with a technique to use meat scraps and connective tissue for human food. The bits are processed, heated and extruded. The product is disinfected of possible bacteria that it has picked up from the slaughter process by exposing it to either ammonia or citric acid. The term Pink Slime was used by Gerald Zirnstein in 2002 in describing the pink, jelly like substance when he was opposing the use of it in human food. He was an employee of the USDA Food Safet...