It’s all over the news now, gradually gaining steam since Jamie Oliver, a popular British Chef, discussed the prevalence of the stuff in American beef products on his show, “Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution” exactly one year ago, on April 12, 2011.
First of all, what is it? The technical name is LFTB (lean finely textured beef) and it is made from the trimmings, meaning the leftover fat, connective tissue, and scraps, remaining after a cow has been slaughtered. It also happens to be the meat from areas of the cow, such as lining the digestive cavity or the outer surfaces of the carcass, that have higher volumes of pathogens like E. coli and salmonella. Previously, this meat was often sent to a rendering plant to be turned into food for dogs or other animals, whose digestive systems are designed to handle this type of stuff better than humans.
In the 1990s, a process was discovered by which the fat could be separated out from the rest of the trimmings, yielding a very low-fat (ie. lean ) product. I can’t really call it meat , considering it’s high proportion of connective tissue. And if that doesn’t sound delightful enough, remember that this product is teeming with bacteria. In order to kill most of the pathogens, it is treated with ammonium hydroxide (yes, that’s the same stuff you have in amongst your household cleaning agents…and yes, it’s the one with the poison warning on it.) Once this is complete, it is very finely ground and added as a filler to many of the ground beef products sold in the United States.
As of a year ago, it was estimated that 70% of ground beef products included up to 15% LFTB, and they may still be labeled as 100% ground beef. There is no legal requirement for LFTB to appear on the label, so there is no way of knowing for sure the extent of its use. Since the controversy erupted, MacDonalds, Taco Bell, Burger King, Safeway and some other major chains have announced that they would no longer sell products with LFTB, and other grocery stores, such as Walmart, would label their products that have LFTB included.
And where do we stand on it here in Canada? According to Heather Travis, director of public relations for Canadian beef, “pink slime and ammonium hydroxide are not used in Canadian ground beef.” I did a little more digging to find the USDA meat export requirements for Canada to discover that any “product treated with anhydrous ammonia as an anti-microbial agent” is ineligible for export to Canada. I also sent an e-mail to Health Canada for the list of what exactly is allowed by way of anti-microbial agents in meat processing in Canada, but I have yet to hear back. I’ll let you know when (or if) I do!
So, it sounds like meat in Canada is safe from pink slime. If there are any news breakthroughs, I’ll keep you posted. Until then, we’re quickly approaching BBQ season, so go ahead and enjoy your burgers…just be wary of anything you eat on the other side of the border.
In case you haven’t seen it, I’ve included Jamie Oliver’s piece on pink slime. It’s only about 6 minutes long, so it’s worth the time to give it a look.
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