Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

What ABC called "pink slime," USDA now says can be labeled "ground beef"

newfoodeconomy.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 320 posts

Re: What ABC called "pink slime," USDA now says can be labeled "ground beef"

#61

Post by supportlocal4h »

For those who don't have a personal butcher, you might be interested to know...

Many state and county fairs include a livestock show. Often the exhibited animals are auctioned off at the end of the show. The animals are raised and exhibited by youth (4H, FFA, etc). The proceeds go to the (child) owner of the animal.

At our county fair, bidding starts at about $3/# on the hoof. They generally weigh between 1100# and 1500#. Butchers present at the auction take your order on exactly how you want it cut. The seller will show up on your doorstep with it cut, wrapped, and frozen. No charge beyond the bid price. Seller takes care of everything. Cost above market price is tax deductible.

Some of the best beef money can buy. Can help fund college. Swine, lamb, goat, etc might also be available at a show near you. If a whole beef is too much, go in with a group. A group of 4 can end up with 100+# each for less than $1000 a piece.

If this doesn't describe a livestock show near you, shop around. If none of this sounds like your cup of tea, forget I said anything.

Re: What ABC called "pink slime," USDA now says can be labeled "ground beef"

#63

Post by rgbrenner »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #56
rgbrenner wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it's the same thing. The beef trimmings they're referring to in the article are those left on the carcass after the meat has been removed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_meat_recovery

I realize the HackerNews guidelines disallow comments that begin with "Did you even read the article?!", but I have to wonder if that prohibition applies to comments that themselves post a link that directly contradicts what is being argued. That exact link you posted states: > USDA regulations for procurement of frozen fresh ground beef products state that "Beef that is mechanically separated from bone with automati…

Dude.. you're commenting on an article right now that changes that rule.

BPI uses AMR to recover the scraps. You can now call it ground beef. That's what we're all talking about it. That's what the article is about.

Re: What ABC called "pink slime," USDA now says can be labeled "ground beef"

#64

Post by hskaw »

jdietrich wrote: post #39
tptacek wrote: post #3

Why is this supposed to upset me? If we're going to keep eating animals (and that sure is my plan), we shouldn't give ourselves the luxury of getting squicked out over using the whole animal. If you're picky about what's in your ground beef, find a butcher you trust, or grind your own.

>Why is this supposed to upset me? The factor that dominates our conversations about food - social class. We have a set of reflexive attitudes about food that are largely uncorrelated with health, nutrition or the environment, but are strongly correlated with the social class of who eats what. Advanced meat recovery is the ultimate in nose-to-tail eating, allowing us to make use of almost every gram of edible meat on…

This is very dishonest.

Pink slime contains connective tissue and muscle. There's no way it's equivalent in terms of nutritional value to actual meat. And don't forget it's treated with ammonia, which is the reason it's banned in the first world.

Re: What ABC called "pink slime," USDA now says can be labeled "ground beef"

#65

Post by TheSpiceIsLife »

Pharmakon wrote: post #26
jeffdavis wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are the bad consequences of this "pink slime"? Is it worse for you than a ribeye steak? What makes it not OK?

It is much higher in fat, and much lower in protein than meat. It also contains pulverized bone, nerve tissue and more. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanically_separated_meat This puree includes bone, bone marrow, skin, nerves, blood vessels, and the scraps of meat remaining on the bones. The resulting product is a blend primarily consisting of tissues not generally considered meat along with a much smaller amou…

> This puree includes bone, bone marrow, skin, nerves, blood vessels, and the scraps of meat remaining on the bones.

Is there something inherently wrong with eating any of this stuff?

People eat heart, liver, kidney. I can’t see how bone and skin, or blood vessels could be bad for you.

Re: What ABC called "pink slime," USDA now says can be labeled "ground beef"

#66

Post by dang »

zdragnar wrote: post #2

I think the article linked in the posted one does a better job explaining what's "news" about this: https://newfoodeconomy.org/bpi-pink-slime-ground-beef-usda-r... > Since 1994, the government’s stance has been clear. Lean finely textured beef (LFTB) has been a “qualified component” of hamburger, meaning it can be included in ground beef without being independently disclosed. But it could not itself be called ground…

Ok, we've changed the URL to that from https://qz.com/1552580/the-us-government-has-redefined-pink-.... Thanks!

Re: What ABC called "pink slime," USDA now says can be labeled "ground beef"

#67

Post by [deleted] »

supportlocal4h wrote: post #61

For those who don't have a personal butcher, you might be interested to know... Many state and county fairs include a livestock show. Often the exhibited animals are auctioned off at the end of the show. The animals are raised and exhibited by youth (4H, FFA, etc). The proceeds go to the (child) owner of the animal. At our county fair, bidding starts at about $3/# on the hoof. They generally weigh between 1100# and 1…

[deleted]

Re: What ABC called "pink slime," USDA now says can be labeled "ground beef"

#68

Post by crooked-v »

stevebmark wrote: post #38

This makes me want to eat pink slime more, sounds like it's just entirely healthy rendered fat that ignorant Americans think is unhealthy so they remove it from the cuts, losing flavor and nutrients. I didn't realize "pink slime" was the discarded healthier, flavorful cuts of meat.

"Pink slime" is made of the very last bits of meat and collagen remaining on the bones, mechanically scraped off and then put through a centrifuge to remove fat, extruded as thin tubes that are processed with ammonia or citric acid to kill off bacteria, then finely ground and compressed into blocks for shipping. It's only a "flavorful cut" if you consider your "flavorful cuts" to include "whatever remnants can be scraped off the spinal column after every bit of non-mechanical butchering is finished".

Re: What ABC called "pink slime," USDA now says can be labeled "ground beef"

#69

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

Pharmakon wrote: post #51
Zarel wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your link also says that, as of 2004, the USDA considers mechanically separated beef prohibited for use in human food. So I'm guessing that means the "pink slime" this article is talking about is something else?

No, it’s the same product that has undergone additional steps to make it legal to serve to humans. The critical step is typically the application of ammonia, and less often, citric acid. Often the product is defatted prior to this step, but the only legal distinction is the use of a germicidal agent.

You keep posting this, but your own links are clear that this is false.

Mechanically separated meat is not allowed for human consumption specifically because of the danger of potential-prion-containing nerve tissue entering the product. Importantly, these prions are extremely difficult to deactivate, and thus it wouldn't make sense to allow this to be served to humans, no matter what further processing happened.

Here is a link from snopes that clarifies the difference: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/legal-separation/

> A meat product known as “boneless lean beef trimmings” (BLBT) or “lean finely textured beef,” pejoratively referred to as “pink slime,” is often confused with mechanically separated meat, although it is produced by a different process. In order to extract pricer lean beef from less valuable, fattier trimmings, centrifuges are used to separate the fat out of the meat trimmings, and the resulting lean beef is then squeezed through small tubes, where it is exposed to a small amount of ammonia gas, producing a pinkish substance. Unlike MSM, lean beef trimmings are legal for sale in the U.S., although they are mixed in with other meat products (usually ground beef) and generally do not comprise more than 25 percent of the final meat products purchased by end consumers.

Re: What ABC called "pink slime," USDA now says can be labeled "ground beef"

#70

Post by [deleted] »

tptacek wrote: post #3

Why is this supposed to upset me? If we're going to keep eating animals (and that sure is my plan), we shouldn't give ourselves the luxury of getting squicked out over using the whole animal. If you're picky about what's in your ground beef, find a butcher you trust, or grind your own.

[deleted]
Post reply on HN