“Pink Slime,” or what the industry terms “Lean Finely Textured Beef,” has been in the news quite a bit lately. As public awareness has spread about the beef-filler commonly used in ground beef, three major retailers have announced that they will no longer sell ground beef that contains the additive. From Yahoo:
At least three national supermarket operators have decided to stop buying ground beef that contains the filler now known as “pink slime.”
Supervalu Inc. — which operates owns stores under the Acme, Albertsons, Cub Foods, Farm Fresh, Hornbacher’s, Jewel-Osco, Lucky, Shaw’s/Star Market, Shop ‘n Save and Shoppers Food & Pharmacy banners — said Wednesday that customer concern prompted it to stop carrying products containing the filler. Safeway Inc., which operates the Genuardi’s and Dominicks chains, as well as Safeway stores, said Wednesday that it also has announced it will stop selling fresh or frozen ground beef with the filler.
Public outcry over “pink slime” has grown sharply as images, media reports and online petitions about it have spread.
The low-cost additive, which has been used for years, is made from fatty bits of leftover meat that are heated, spun to remove the fat, compressed into blocks and exposed to ammonia to kill bacteria. Producers often mix the filler into fattier meat to produce an overall leaner product and reduce their costs.
I’m not trying to pass judgment on ground beef, the industry, or what anyone chooses to eat, but I am happy to see this change. Our family stopped buying non-organic ground beef over five years ago for health reasons, and per the organic standard, organic ground beef cannot contain Lean Finely Textured Beef at all.
But the other side of the equation is the cost. Organic beef is expensive, so it’s something we eat occasionally, not weekly. At Jewel, a pound of Wild Harvest ground beef sells for $6.99. I’m always happy when I find it close to the date code and can pick it up for a better price. (This past week, I found it with $4-off peelies stuck on by the meat department… that’s a deal!)
As supermarkets continue to remove “pink slime” from their ground beef, the after-effect may also be higher prices. With the cheap fillers that made it low-cost going away, the fillers will have to be replaced with higher-quality (actual) beef.
I’ve been getting some email from readers on this topic. One wrote last night expressing this concern:
“Pink Slime: I’m curious about your thoughts on this trend. With everybody freaked out about it and a bunch of stores stopping to carry meat treated with it. I see this as a verrrrry bad trend. Please follow my logic. The pink slime is used to basically make unusable meat usable. The meat is then also used as a filler that in turn keeps the price of a little better quality meat lower. Correct?
So the cost of the little bit better quality meat will rise (because there is no filler). The unusable meat is now again unusable so the next better quality of meat will be in demand. That in turn will force the price of the little bit better quality of meat even higher. Then, everyone is going to complain because meat is so expensive.”
Another reader writes:
“I was thinking about beef prices [with regard to “pink slime.”] Thing is, Woodmans has never used it, so I doubt whether their beef will go up. Other stores will have to stay competitive.”
What do you think? Are you concerned with eating “pink slime” in ground beef? Would you be willing to pay more for ground beef free from this filler, or do you expect ground beef prices to remain about the same?
“Pink Slime” image used under Creative Commons license.
artmom6 says
I do think meat prices may go up slightly, not only because it may cost more to eliminate the pink slime and replace with fresh meat but mainly because there will be a higher demand, particularly because of the publicity and public awareness.
However, with that said, places like Woodman’s have never had pink slime in their meat and have not charged (as far as I know) ridiculous prices because of it. I’m hoping that Jewel and Dominick’s don’t increase their prices dramatically just because of the pink slime factor. (Their prices are already too high).
It is great that the public has been made aware of this disgusting practice. I know I will no longer shop at Sam’s Club for meat. The thought of pink slime is revolting!
DealJunkie says
I understand the concern about the price of beef going up – even if it doesn’t actually affect the price I believe companies will use this as an excuse to charge more.
I think the real issue is that people have been eating this stuff for a couple of years now. With the fat being removed it sounds like it is used to lower the fat content of lower quality beef.
I would just like to see beef labeled as either having it or not and then I get to choose what to buy.
Flag1 says
First I have heard of this in specifics. Thank you Jill for making sure we are enlightened. Glad we don’t eat very much hamburger since I shop at Wal-Mart! I have an Albertsons in town so will purchase hamburger there when it is on sale from now on.
pandorarocks says
I’m a big fan of letting anybody do anything they want to a food product and then letting the consumer decide whether or not it’s right for them. But it MUST be labeled. If it’s genetically modified, it should say so. If it’s been exposed to chemicals (such as ammonia), it should say so. Empower shoppers to make their own decisions, instead of trying to make their minds up for them.
eztupp says
i asked about this the other day at jewel and the lady behind the counter said what is in the chopping block does not contain fill cause they grind it there. there are 2 kinds of packaged ground beef in the meat case. one kind is ground there in the store put on a styrofome tray and shrink wrapped. that one does not contain filler. the other kind is in a white plastic container that is not ground there. it has a clear covering on top but its not shrink wrapped. she wasnt sure if that kind had the filler or not.
franamo says
This Picture that you are using first started circulating in 2010 and was labelled as Mechanically Seperated Chicken (as I remember seeing this from some co-workers a year or two ago), so the picture may or may not be actual beef. If you take a look a Snopes.com which is a great site to use to validate e-mail circulations, rumors, etc. They state that portions of the story are true:
https://www.snopes.com/food/prepare/msm.asp
I’m not trying to back up the retailers or the meat packing industry, but just want to be sure that we are seeing the whole story.
Thanks and keep couponing!
daniellematlock says
We chose to purchase a portion of a cow from a local farm and have it processed ourselves…we pick the cuts and our last one averaged $3.10/lb. a GREAT price considering that contains roasts, tbones, stew meat, ground beef, porterhouse steaks, etc.
hobbitgirl says
https://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentid=2012/03/0094.xml&contentidonly=true
USDA Announces Additional Choices for Beef Products in the Upcoming School Year
USDA Affirms Safety of Lean Finely Textured Beef Product for Consumers
WASHINGTON, March 15, 2012 – In response to requests from school districts across the country, the USDA announced today that it will offer more choices to schools in the National School Lunch Program when it comes to purchases of ground beef products.
USDA only purchases products for the school lunch program that are safe, nutritious and affordable – including all products containing Lean Finely Textured Beef. However, due to customer demand, the department will be adjusting procurement specifications for the next school year so schools can have additional options in procuring ground beef products. USDA will provide schools with a choice to order product either with or without Lean Finely Textured Beef.
USDA continues to affirm the safety of Lean Finely Textured Beef product for all consumers and urges customers to consult science based information on the safety and quality of this product. Lean Finely Textured Beef is a meat product derived from a process which separates fatty pieces from beef trimmings to reduce the overall fat content.
By law, USDA has two primary responsibilities as part of its mandate to provide safe and nutritious food to the American people. Through the Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA ensures that safety of the nation’s commercial supply of meat, poultry, and processed egg products. Through the Food and Nutrition Service and the Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA provides food and nutrition assistance through several domestic programs, including the National School Lunch Program.
While USDA sets national nutritional guidelines for school meals, school districts make local decisions on what food to feed kids to meet these guidelines. On average, schools in the National School Lunch Program purchase approximately 20 percent of their food through USDA, and approximately 80 percent of food served is purchased directly by schools or school districts through private vendors. Schools purchase food from the department through the USDA Foods Program, which provides more than 180 nutritious food items that are fresh, frozen, packaged, canned, dried, or in bulk. USDA procures these products based on the demand from schools to help meet the menu planning needs, student taste preferences, school nutrition goals, and local wellness initiatives.
USDA ensures all food purchased for the National School Lunch Program meet stringent food safety standards, which includes rigorous pathogen testing. Purchase specifications are continually reviewed, microbial test results are evaluated, new food safety technologies are considered, and food safety experts are consulted to determine the adequacy of our food safety requirements.
#
Well, at least now schools will have a choice, but I wonder if the alternative to slime will be at a greater cost and thus impact school budgets.
Coupon Maven says
A reader passed this article along to me today, following-up to the first story:
Less Pink Slime…
And, here’s another article:
US retailers swear off ‘pink slime’, industry worried
This article goes on to state that “public opinion can influence billions of dollars worth of purchasing in a few weeks’ time.”
Indeed.
coupondad says
Not to mention the 40 pounds of ground beef I bought from them earlier in the month that sits in my freezer that indeed CONTAINS pink slime.
Yes, I have probably, unknowingly, bought, eaten and served my family beef containing pink slime from Dominick’s and Jewel.
But when a company clearly states on their owe website that the beef they sell has, ” No chemicals, additives or water added to meat during processing,” wouldn’t you think it was PINK SLIME free?
I did, but I called over a week ago just to make sure. The first person to answer the phone gave me the scripted response from their website which led the average consumer to believe the beef was slime free. ( See: Mashupmom) She also suggested I call National Beef, their supplier, and ask them. I told her I paid Zayon, not National Beef and they needed to find out from National Beef.
When I pressed the issued for specifics I was transferred to someone else. “Are you calling about pink slime?” Yes I am. She told me they had numerous inquiries from customers wondering the same thing and had numerous emails into National Beef, their supplier, and were awaiting an answer. She assured me when they found out they would post the information on their website.
Fast forward to Wednesday of this week. I googled around and found 2 news sources reporting that Zaycon Food’s beef does indeed CONTAIN pink slime. I brought up Zaycon’s website and nothing is posted, and still as of today nothing is posted.
Then I went to Zaycon’s Facebook page, where many were asking the same question.
Their first response went something like this, ‘WOW, we didn’t know we were in the same league as the big boys.’
When I questioned the flippant nature of this reply, I received this:
We were just suprised that we were listed with them and that it was posted that way before we even found out ourselves. We found out less then 48 hours ago that the 93/7 ground beef had a small percentage of LFTB. We wanted to be honest and to make sure we did our own homework. After our research we find nothing wrong with the product. I guess they have been doing this process for years. They do not put this on any package because the product is meat.
Seriously!!! The news media knew that Zaycon’s beef contained pink slime before Zaycon themselves knew. How is that possible?
By their own admission Zaycon say’s they had known for 48 hours but did not make it official until their Facebook page started to heat up and then only on Facebook, not on their website as promised.
Subsequent responses were no better, ranging from: “you should not believe everything you read in the media”, “we have nothing to hide,” “we will still feed it to our family,” “sorry for the delay, we were doing our homework”, “We were trying to figure it out.”
Of course in true Facebook fashion Zaycon deleted most posts within an hour of them being posted. Is that indicative of a company with “nothing to hide?”
Zaycon has the email addresses of every customer they have sold beef to. Why haven’t they emailed their customer’s with an apology and offered a refund?
Additional questions were posted and went unanswered:
1) How long does it take to pick up the phone, call your supplier and ask them if the 93/7 beef they supply to you contains LFTB?
2) How does the supplier not know instantly the answer to that question?
3) How long does it take to do “your homework?”
4) Why would you continue to buy meat from a supplier who can’t give you an immediate, definitive answer to the question?
5) Why would you continue to sell this product to your customers while you await the answer?
6) Why do you claim on your website that the beef contains: “No chemicals, additives or water added to meat during processing” when in fact it does? Ammonia is an additive the last time I checked.
7) If and when there is ever a recall on your products, how will we be notified and HOW LONG will that take?? Or will you be sorry for the delay and be waiting more information while we suffer the consequences?
8) Did you ever consider that we did our own research before we bought from you and BELIEVED you when you stated on your website that there was no added chemicals, additives or water added during processing, but yet you delivered other than what was stated? Sounds like the definition of fraud to me.
9) Define “small percentage.”
There is another layer to this that I have not seen mentioned anywhere.
If you google Zaycon Foods you will notice that their primary marketing strategy was to give free meat to bloggers in exchange for their unbiased reviews. All of the reviews I read were blogs hosted by women, mostly stay at home mom’s trying to make ends meet in this tough economy.
What a diservice to these women and all their readers with their unethical business practice, offering one thing, delivering another and stalling over a week to provide answers to the pink slime question.
I suspect that one of the reasons they delayed contacting their customers was to cut their losses. They probably had 1000’s of pounds of PINK SLIME meat they needed to sell and deliver to unsuspecting customers before word got out. (i.e. Margin Call)
It seems silly that a company that used social media to promote it’s business would not have considered that social media can work to protect consumers from unethical business practices as well.
By 5PM Wednesday, March 21st, they FINALLY conceded to halting all beef sales until they could offer a Pink Slime free product.
I don’t know about you, but I vote with my dollars. Zaycon food’s has lost my trust and my money.
DanaMc says
I’m so glad Pink Slime is coming to light. And, no I’m not concerned about the price of beef going up. I’m sure it will. But, I use a butcher in LaGrange to get my meat. DeVries. Highly recommend them. I usually don’t buy hamburger, but when I do I get a hunk of sirloin and a hunk of chuck and have them double-grind it. Usually, I just buy non-ground meat there.
There used to be a butcher in Brookfield, but he went out of business.
I’m glad the Pink Slime is getting attention. I have a cooking website and I did a post on Jamie Oliver’s “Fowl Dinner’s” program years ago. You can find the show on You Tube. The show follows chickens from egg to plate – and shows the chicken slime that is also on the market. (Jamie also highlighted this in his Food Revolution series, in season 1, maybe episode 5 or so.)
We really need to follow Jill’s example.
Eat quality meat, less frequently.
~ Dana
Flag1 says
I mentioned this to my husband this morning and he already knew about it. I never saw anything on this until Jill’s blog. Guess who gets to sit and watch the morning news…
Anyway, Albertson’s has a sale for $2.79 a pound 93% lean and freshly ground. He assured us that it had no pink slime in it. Hopefully he told the truth since I purchased several pounds at that price. Even cheap hamburger is over $3 a pound everywhere in our town.
Thanks again Jill for the enlightenment.
Yukipr says
I was just going to post about this. I went to a Farmers Market at Church during the winter. One of the people was a farm about 100 miles or so west of Chicago (forgot the name). They had information on buying whole cows, lamps, pigs, etc. They even had a processor near the farm. They mentioned they use just organic feed to the animals. So, you only need to pay and pick up the product. If I knew other people, I would have jump on this right away. Why? It is organic and supports local farmers. I think I will give this a second thought and try to recruit people for this.
Coupon Maven says
From Consumerist: https://consumerist.com/2012/03/there-are-now-900000-fewer-pounds-of-pink-slime-being-produced-each-day.html
There Are Now 900,000 Fewer Pounds Of “Pink Slime” Being Produced Each Day
According to the AP, the three plants — in Amarillo, TX, Garden City, KS, and Waterloo, IA — had been responsible for producing a total of 900,000 pounds of the filler each day. A plant in South Dakota will still be producing it.
“We feel like when people can start to understand the truth and reality then our business will come back,” a rep for the company tells the AP. “It’s 100 percent beef.”
WoodstockDad says
I don’t get all the knee-jerk reactions people have to stories such as this every time they appear in the media. Just because something becomes hot copy, people seem to lose all rational critical thought of their own. What I think we’re seeing with this story is the same reaction that permeates our modern day consciousness that was propagated by Upton Sinclair in the early 1900’s. The Jungle was a fictional piece of work that affected the Chicago meat packing industry to the point of extinction and to this day people still say “you know what’s in that hot dog?” Stories such as this tap into this fear with absolutely no scientific basis.
If it’s 100% meat, then I have no problem eating it. Perhaps “you” (second person vernacular aimed at any reader) do have issues with it and that’s fine – but at least educate yourself on the science and make an educated decision. I agree with one commenter here that as long as we have the knowledge, that it’s based in fact and perhaps the labeling can indicate true ingredients and processing (e.g., not a cut direct from a butcher) then we’re free to make our own decisions. Unfortunately, that’s not the case today and instead of just providing us with information, others are making decisions for us.
What we’re seeing here is “fact by consensus”. It’s just too bad consensus is often driven by the media and the unquestioning masses instead of scientific fact.
coupondad says
If Pink Slime is so wonderful, why don’t they sell it on it’s own merit?
Why hide it among something else?
Then people could do what they want with it.