PORTLAND, Maine — Maine Congresswoman Chellie Pingree is asking the nation’s top agriculture official to ban the use of “pink slime” in school cafeteria food.
In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Pingree says the Agriculture Department should stop buying ground beef that contains pink slime, which she describes as an “industrial slurry of beef scraps and connective tissue.”
Pingree says fast-food restaurants such as McDonald’s and Burger King have stopped using the byproduct, and that school cafeterias should, too.
The USDA is set to announce Thursday that schools will be able to choose whether or not they buy ground beef that contains the ammonia-treated filler.
The stuff should be banned. Period.
The problem is that if we start banning mechanically separated meat products, there will be nothing left for the schools to serve. For some reason, this country has allowed it’s food pyramid and school lunch program to be hijacked by Tyson and similar industrial producers. Barfola.
I dunno… as a mom on a super tight budget, I find food that doesn’t fit into those categories for my kids. In fact, we could argue that meat doesn’t even need to be a staple for school lunches.
Good for you! You can do it if you know how to and in some cases all it takes is being shown at first. Schools do not have to serve this crap, nor the crap Bangorian mentions. Did you ever watch the program that Jamie Oliver did about the school lunch programs in the USA?
Great minds think alike – I just posted the Jamie Oliver site link, above on this page.
“if we start banning ( ammonia-treated ) mechanically separated meat products”
If we don’t start banning the nastiest low bid garbage, and keep cutting the budget, you will turn American’s children in garbage cans, too. Which side are you on ?
Budgets are what makes people, be it an individual, a school, or a restaurant, buy this crap.
bites, It seems that your main quarrel with this beef filler is that it is treated with ammonia. Do you like blue cheese? I nearly fell out of my chair when I read it has over 1000 ppm (parts per million) of ammonia! Peanut butter is around 500ppm, and American cheese about 800ppm.
Should we ban peanut butter now as well?
No, it is feeding the kids crap that not even MacDonald’s and Burger King dares to use.
Children who eat school lunch have a tendency to be fatter than children who bring their lunches from home. Another wasteful government project destroying the health of our young., with their overly processed government surplus food.
Another point to consider: children who eat school lunches tend to be poorer, less healthy, less happy and less parented than kids who don’t eat that trash. My question is, and has been, why do the poor kids have to eat fattening trash like mechanically separated meat?
Good point. Check your labels. No Trans Fat, No Mechanically-Separated nothing.. Edible it will be. Old people today got to be old because back in the 50’s 60’s 70’s even early 80’s they consumed butter and real beef and there wasn’t all these perservatives in everything. It’s actually most of the stuff that says Diet, or Cheap Price, even Healthy. Remember, your grandmother smoked inside, ate beef, butter fat, alcohol and they lived longer it seemed. Didn’t it?
Yep. Just because something came out of a cow or off a cow, that’s not good reason for calling it beef…..And just because I can digest something, I still take offense at calling it edible.
I agree, good for you Congresswoman Pingree. Next go after big pharm for the dangerous birth control pill, which is destroying women’s over all health http://www.ditchthepill.org/
Got a link to that ?
I feel the need to chime in here.
I was first put on ‘the pill’ as a teenager for terrible cramps. After a few months, my cramps were still just as bad or sometimes worse. Stopped taking it, and have never taken it since. Especially because I’m a smoker, I think it does more damage taking *any* pill vs. other effective forms of birth control. I’ve used condoms for years and never gotten pregnant. Yep, had a couple break or fall off (LOL!) and that’s what Plan B is for! And I’ve said when I get married, I’ll have my husband get his tubes tied so we don’t have to pay for condoms or plan b!
Yet, these days a young woman is practically expected to be on birth control pills. Why??? I go to the ER & the triage is surprised and double checks that I’m not taking birth control. It’s just something society has come to expect of young women and the side effects are brushed over like they’re nothing. Um, sorry? Increased risk of heart attack and stroke are not small side effects, especially if you already have a higher risk.
I don’t mean to rant, but what I’m getting at is that I don’t think we should just go around banning everything. What we *need* to do is adopt smarter attitudes about what we’re putting in our own bodies. Doctors need to inform women about the side effects of birth control pills & ways they can avoid these things (I don’t really know much about their side effects b/c I don’t need to!)
So, although I am a woman who doesn’t and won’t take birth control pills, I don’t think banning them is a great idea.
Very well said, thank you.
What I don’t understand is why women have put up with the pill. A chemist once stated to me (they were for barrier methods) that if the body needs to do something every month (ovulate) can you imagine how strong of a hormone must be put in a women’s body to stop nature? Why women have allowed themselves to be used by big pharm is beyond me. Mothers will put their daughters on the pill whether they are sexually active or not. No one seems to be questioning this push for the pill and if you do, you are thought of as a religious zealot.
We were so concerned last year about BPA (and rightly so) yet women don’t and won’t question about all the young girls on the birth control pill.
really,,,,,,, she finally found some intelligence,,,,,,, I’m sure it won’t last long
I want Pingree banned from the House
”
I want Pingree banned from the House ”
Good for you.
I support your right to express your opinion, but I cancel out your vote, too.
So what is important to you if not the next American generation’s health ? Meat packers profits ?
Why ?
Meat Packers sell perfectly good ground beef without this stuff in it. The problem is that school districts cannot afford to purchase that product do to a higher cost. How to get good quality products at a lower cost into school lunchrooms is what the conversation needs to be about. That is a long conversation that has not been taking place.
Many school districts have been moving to a healthier menu, but in some areas of the country, it’s an uphill battle. Too often, it’s all about the dollars, instead of the quality of the food.
Check out Jamie Oliver’s “Food Revolution” if you’ve never seen the site. He’s an awesome advocate for school nutrition.
http://www.jamieoliver.com/us/foundation/jamies-food-revolution/school-food
He managed to reform the LA school department’s menus, which at first seemed impossible.
Ahyup, but if we have to cut taxes and balance the budget, can the schools afford beans ?
My questions still stand : ” So what is important to you if not the next American generation’s health ? Meat packers profits ?
Why ?”
Serving Healthy Food to kids in schools is important.
If we start banning slime, we will soon run out of government representatives.
“If we start banning slime, we will soon run out of government representatives.”
If you elect politicians who oppose banning the slime you will only have slime in Congress, too.
I think it should be force fed to whoever invented the stuff.
…. OR AUTHORIZES PAYING FOR IT AND CALLING IT “MEAT” .
As a democrat, she is an expert on slime.
And she landed herself some of that slimey green to help support the lavish lifestyle she acquired in DC at taxpayer expense.
“As a democrat, she is an expert on slime.”
Just two words in reply that nonsense… Republican caucuses.
chellie should not be worried about that little in school when fast food chains have been using it for years also beef topping on pizzas and wally world take and bake and the list goes on beef lips are used in slim jims and meat sticks where do you think 100% beef comes from no waste on this cow the fast food industries would be out of business or aburger would cost a lot more
McDonalds stopped using it in 2002 and I believe the other chains did as well. I also would be hard pressed to believe that schools currently use it as it is pretty low on the food totem pole and mostly reserved for extremely cheap meat cuts found in discount stores
“beef lips are used in slim jims and meat sticks ”
So fed the kids slim jims because beef lips are really meat at least.
Anyone who knows what this stuff is and how it is made would not feed it to their dogs, much less their children.
Good work, Chellie!
Typical liberal softball move. It’s like coming out against smoking.
The best way to stop smoking is to carry wet matches.
A dedicated smoker will light off the toaster.
… or like promising to make gasoline $2.50 per gallon if you are elected POTUS ?
People can choose to eat s–t when they become an adult. Until then, I don’t want anyone sneaking s–t into my kids mouth, TYVM.
And yet kids aren’t having cigarettes for lunch.
Is this the same Pingree that is mom to “bad seed Hannah” ?
Is she a member of the cave dwelling clan on Vinalhaven
called GLOBAL WARMING DENIERS?
I know, I know to you are going to say ” Chellie first has to take baby steps”
But we first have to :
1. wait and see if pink slime gets banned
2, wait and see if any of the children who were saved by not eating pink slime
are killed by Global Warming droughts, famine, opportunistic infections etc.
see. http://www.heatisonline.org
Nice pre election vote for me sound bite eh?
Ooooops!
By the way Chellie what did you do about the brown slime released by BP along the Gulf Coast
and why did you and other members of Congress ban Diane Wilson from attending Congressional Hearings you were holding about the Gulf Oil Spill?
see
http://www.chelseagreen.com/content/update-diane-wilson-is-banned-from-us-capitolbut-at-least-shes-not-going-to-prison/
The Congressional Cutlery Queen.
“Pink Slime” a blend of connective tissure, was not considered fit for human consuption until 1992, when a Bush #1 appointee to the FDA changed that by decree. She ending up shortly after that being on the board of a major meat industry lobbying firm.
Imagine that, a bureaucrat that made a policy change and was
rewarded with a cushy corporate position. That must be a first ;)
I’m sure Bill Clinton put a stop to it, so how did it return?
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, appointed by Chellie’s Messiah, is a Monsanto shill.
I guess I’m still on the fence about this one.
To me, it sounds like they’re taking fat cut from steaks etc. and spinning it off.
The main disgust comes from calling it slime.
According to them,
If this beef is not used in fresh ground beef products, approximately
1.5 million additional head of cattle would need to be harvested
annually to make up the difference..
I’d rather eat pink slime than raise/slaughter another million and a half cows for meat that’s fattier and more expensive…
”
The main disgust comes from calling it slime …”
Oh, okay.
But I’ve got to figure that calling it “slime” comes from people who know how the ammonia-treated, mechanically separated meat products are processed .
Sorry, “mechanically separated” and “ammonia treated” aren’t turn offs for me.
Mechanically separated: fat spun off meat in a centrifuge (think of the Gravitron at a carnival)
Ammonia treated: kill those bacteria!!!
I think the term “pink slime” probably came from someone who knows nothing beyond the aesthetics of it.
Think of the $$$ it would cost to raise 1,500,000 MORE cows. Besides the fact that it’d be just wasteful not to use a safe process to reduce the amount of wasted product (cow)..
I’m not saying it shouldn’t be labeled as an ingredient, though.
But, if parents don’t want their child eating what is served at school, guess what? They don’t have to have their kids eat it!!! I don’t like them forcing their misinformed beliefs upon my tax dollars.
you should probably wash all your meat in ammonia then before serving to your family.. but make sure you rinse well, it smells just like cat pee.
Maybe you should stop making your kids PB&J sandwiches or grilled cheese because there’s ammonia in those things too. Peanut butter has about 500ppm and American cheese 800ppm of ammonia.
Ammonia is not a bad thing. It kills bad things.
and I thought they were talking about the New Jersey Governor…….
Awwww… the govenor won’t mind keeping it on the menu… probably grows fuzz on mold!
and little beards on woman.
People.People, Please.
It is election time. Chellie is focused on Pink Slime.
Meanwhile did you hear the news on the Maine Whisper Stream the US Military is set to blow up the US Carrier Enterprise when it arrives in the Gulf in 4 days and use this false flag event to trigger a war against Iran. The carrier is going to be mothballed after this mission, making it expendable, eh?
Thursday, 15 March 2012 18:24
With The Enterprise Just 4 Days Away From Arrival, A SWIFT Cut Off Of Iran
http://www.collapsenet.com/free-resources/collapsenet-public-access/news-alerts/item/6946-with-the-enterprise-just-4-days-away-from-arrival-a-swift-cut-off-of-iran
Last year her theme was outrage over the elimination of biodegradable cutlery and dishware from the Congressional cafeterias. The users got sick of the soup eating through the bowls and decorating their laps, so they demanded the return of good, old-fashioned sturdy disposables. Rep. Pingree was not pleased.
Pingree is also made of pink slime
So do ou have anything on topic or intelligent to contribute ?
I don’t know–maybe we should ban school cafeteria food from pink slime. Which is worse?
I thought this was going to be a story about cherry flavored jello.
so will that mean smelly will be banned from my son’s school cafeteria?
So our children..really are better off eating at McDonald’s?
Maybe, but if they’re going to ban this, they’re going to have to allocate more dollars for school lunch.
Would THAT prevent us from being able to balance the budget with out raising taxes,
do you think ?
lol
I always love reading about the ingredient known as “partially defatted fatty tissue.”
How can you beat a “fire cracker” pickled sausage? Beef lips are the second ingredient and they are really tasty.
I’m quite sure it is the “firecracker” sausage that also has the partially defatted fatty tissue. It’s a winner, for sure–whatever it’s made out of! :)
Never mind..
”
How can you beat a “fire cracker” pickled sausage?”
I can’t speak about that for myself, but it it turns you on, you’ll figure it out how ,
I must think.
The school lunch program in this country is a joke. There are many things that need to be corrected. Poorly trained staff that are not cooks, but manual can openers and boxed item removal specialists is one. So are the budget constraints that school districts face that force them to buy this type of crap hamburger. The intervention of the Federal Government does more to hurt than help.
And the program provides hundreds of thousands of kids the only “decent” meal they will eat today, or tomorrow.
So what happened to the good ‘ol brown bag lunch? When did school lunch become the “norm”?
since women arent just stay at home moms and dont have time to make school lunches. I never had a paper bad lunch all 13 years of school unless I made it myself. And it wasnt because I was poor, or unhappy or had a crappy family etc like posted above. I just had a busy set of parents :-/
I had busy parents, both full time usually out of the house before I went to school and not home for a while after school. My mom was a teacher that had a 45 minute drive every day there and back.
Sure, I got school lunch a bunch of times (maybe once a week) but my mother *made* the time to make sure I had breakfast, had packed a healthy lunch (all it takes is a sandwich, a piece of fruit, and a fun snack!!), and came home to feed me dinner.
I realize not all parents are willing to adjust their busy schedules to accommodate their children’s lives, but if you do not like what is being served, that is your own responsibility not the taxpayers’.
ETA: BTW, if you are not “poor enough” to qualify for the discounts on lunches, it’s cheaper to make your own.
My mother is not unwilling to adjust her busy schedule, but being a nurse, she doesn’t get summers off and home after school hours. If other people don’t come in, she ends up working 16+ hours taking care of people until she is able to leave. So its not about parents being able to *make* time for their kids, if that time isnt there its because she’s out taking care of someone else’s family. Fortunately for me, my mother taught us that if we want breakfast, get up and get breakfast. If you want brown bag lunch, then make a brown bag lunch.
The problem I have with this pink slime, is that people do not know what they could be feeding their family, and also how do we know its not causing problems?
When they discovered that 25% of school children weren’t getting enought to eat at home.
If you have ever eaten pot roast or real goulash you have eaten bovine connective tissue. In that circumstance it is broken down by extended cooking called braising or stewing. In the process we are all commenting on it is removed from the sub primal cuts and then tenderized with bromolin or some other industrial tenderizer in some processes ammonia is used. Then it is ground into a paste and put into ground beef.
Beef Scraps are used in the production of sausages and have been for hundreds of years. Im not sure what the concern with that is as long as everything is labled correctly. For example people know the sausage they are buying contains beef heart.
But back to the connective tissue that is in the pink slime mix-
Is it bad? Good? Its edible but it does contain chemicals not naturally found in meat. Years ago hamburger was bulked up with offal meat to increase the yield and cheapen the cost.
Large amounts of beef trim are sent to the USA from Argentina for processing into ground beef. This beef trim is mostly from Zebu cattle that are the lowest grade of beef cattle in Argentina. Beef from these animals gets exported mostly as low cost beef. Ground Beef cannot be bought in Argentina already packaged. You must ask the butcher to grind it for you. Thus there is no market for the beef trim there and so it is shipped out of the country to mostly the USA and Canada.
And this is the reason we should ban it and the practice of additives to our meat food sources.
TSP is a compound that is used to strip grease and dirt. Painters use it to wash walls down before repainting. This compound is also found in Cherrios.
Connective Tissue used as a filling is a cheap thing to do. When its tenderized with Bromolin(an enzyme found in Pineapple) then it remains a natural substance, no matter how unattractive the ingredients. Adding ammonia makes the process even cheaper.
Even produce you think that would be good for you is subjected to weird processes. There is a lot of manipulation there too.
Sal, thanks for being the one person to really delve into this topic & do your research. I’m getting tired of all the misinformation people are spreading as fact.
Im a professional chef so that is why I happen to know about it.
”
Is it bad? Good? Its edible but it does contain chemicals not naturally found in meat.”
Ammonia.
Like urine ?
Industrial Ammonia, like what you clean with but more diluted.
Will this keep our digestive systems clean without leaving streaks?
Perhaps twenty years from know they will say it is was a cause of cancer. Who knows?
I never hear them saying anything like this has prevented me from getting cancer.
As much as it galls me to say this, I agree with Chellie but I would also take it one step further and ban it from all ground meats and make it nationwide. This is truly a nauseating thing that is being done to our food sources.
Drigo, why why does it gall you to stand up for what is right ?
“industrial slurry of beef scraps and connective tissue.”…scraps is true, connective tissue, not so much. You trim fat of a piece of meat, some meat goes with the fat…this is that meat…just removed from the fat. These are not entrails or guts…its meat with the fat removed by other means then a knife.
It’s not even used by McDonalds or KFC so that should tell you something. I NEVER agree with Pingree but pink slime is truly gross stuff meant for dog food.
Not if you love your dog.
So use it schools ?
No way.
First, schools should not be serving food.
Second, This stuff is not fit for human consumption.
can we ban Pingree from Congress?
We need the GhostBusters!!
I might vote for Pinetop Pingree if she can tell me how many taxpayer funded FBI informants are working in her offices and re-election campaign.
see link for full story http://www.countercurrents.org/zeese150312.htm
March 15, 2012
Peter Camejo, who ran for Governor of California in 2003 as a Green and as Ralph Nader’s vice president in 2004, often told the story about
his 1976 presidential campaign. Camejo able to get the FBI in court
after finding their offices broken into and suing them over COINTELPRO
activities. The judge asked the Special Agent in Charge how many FBI
agents worked in Camejo’s presidential campaign; the answer was 66
agents. Camejo estimated he had a campaign staff of about 400 across
the country. Once again that would be an infiltration rate of 1 out of 6
people. Camejo discovered that among the agents was his campaign
co-chair. He also discovered eavesdropping equipment in his campaign
office and documents showing the FBI had followed him since he was a
student activist at 18 years old.