Pink Slime, It’s Whats for Your Kids Lunch
Oh joy, the things big corporation will do to make a profit.
(CBS News) McDonald’s and other fast food chains may have gotten rid of “pink slime” from its burgers, but the gooey sounding chemical treatment that removes bacteria from meat is popping up elsewhere: Kids’ school lunches.
The Daily reported that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) plans to buy 7 million pounds of “Lean Beef Trimmings,” what many dub pink slime, from Beef Products International (BPI) for the nation’s school lunch programs. Though the USDA said in a statement that all meat “meet(s) the highest standard for food safety,” many have decried the use of the beef item, including celebrity chef Jamie Oliver.
From a 2009 report in the NY Times.
At 6:36 a.m. on Aug. 10, the Beef Products plant in South Sioux City, Neb., started up its production line for the school lunch program. In 60 minutes, the plant produced a batch of 26,880 pounds of processed beef that tested positive for E. coli.
Six days later at the same plant, another 26,880-pound lot was found to have salmonella, government records and interviews show.
Within hours of confirming the contamination, the school lunch division of the Agriculture Department in Washington began investigating.
Just down the hall at department headquarters, the division that oversees meat for the general public did not conduct its own inquiry for another month and half, after receiving questions from The Times.
The problems in South Sioux City came shortly after school lunch officials had suspended a Beef Products plant in Holcomb, Kan., for excessive salmonella. The main U.S.D.A. was not notified of the suspension by school lunch officials, and the plant continued to supply other customers.
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