Guest Editorial | Iowa Farm Bureau
Much has happened in consumer, business, political and media circles since the stories about Lean Finely-Textured Beef first made news as ‘pink slime’ that make it difficult to know what to do for your family.
To help you make the most informed choices you can, we’ve collected some information and links from credible sources.
What you need to know:
The product has been in stores for decades and deemed safe by the United States Department of Agriculture.
It’s USDA-certified 100 percent real beef that is nutritious, lean and indistinguishable even under a microscope from other lean beef cuts.
The ‘pink slime’ hysteria started making the rounds in early March after food critic Jamie Oliver did a story with ABC News.
Oliver is the same controversial chef who claimed chocolate milk was ruining our children’s health.
There has been backlash against Oliver’s tactics; check this link to lean more: http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_c3#/video/health/2012/03/28/sgmd-health...
Lean, Finely-Textured Beef is boneless lean beef trimmings which are 100 percent USDA inspected beef.
Boneless lean beef trim is beef – period.
In this state, it’s more like liquid protein, than anything else. More than two decades of USDA inspection assures that.
If you’re wondering about ammonium hydroxide, used to safeguard the product before it is added to food products, you should know that it’s essentially ammonia and water, both naturally occurring compounds, highly studied and long considered safe by the USDA and it’s been used to make foods safe since 1974.
Boneless lean beef trimmings receive a puff of ammonia to eliminate bacteria safely and effectively.
In all those years, no illness or recall has ever been documented with this product.
In fact, food safety experts and scientists agree, since it has been certified safe by the US Food and Drug Administration since 1974, to ensure ground beef is safe from pathogens such as e coli. (http://tinyurl.com/43o38v6 )
The boneless lean beef trimmings become “finely textured” using high-technology food processing equipment that resembles a large, high-speed mixing bowl, in which they are warmed to help separate away the fat and leave behind a high-quality beef product that is safer and at least 90 percent lean.
It’s a process used to refine the food product, much like what’s done to separate cream from milk.
Unfortunately, as one Chicago Tribune columnist observed, some consumers are scared by any food product that’s “processed.”
Technology is a good thing when it’s used responsibly, because it makes our food safer, last longer, go further and cost less.
While most of us only see the finished product, it’s important to share information so we all understand certain steps in food production which need more explanation.
Only getting half the information can make almost any convenience food product look less-than-appetizing.
Case in point; check out how tofu is made in this Discovery Channel Science YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBwCcwsXXKQ
And finally, Lean, Finely-Textured Beef is sustainable! According to the American meat Institute, without lean, finely textured beef, we would need 1.5 million more head of cattle to make up the difference in our beef supply. This product is made because being sustainable means you waste as little as possible....that helps keep lean beef affordable for more people.
You can read more information here: http://beefisbeef.com/
Or check out a well-balanced story from KCCI Des Moines reporter, Angie Hunt here: http://www.kcci.com/video/30789054/detail.html
You can learn more common sense tidbits about the product here: http://www.bestfoodfacts.org/main/food_for_thought/0/114
Or see how Governor Branstad and US Ag Secretary Vilsack worked together this week to restore public faith in the processing plant that makes Lean Finely-Textured Beef, in a story featured by KTIV in Sioux City: http://tinyurl.com/codowt4