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ANCHORAGE - For years schools have been serving USDA ground beef that contains "lean beef trimmings," or what's now being called "pink slime." The product is exposed to ammonium hydroxide gas to kill bacteria, which is a cause for concern for many across the country. The USDA buys seven millions pounds of the filler for school lunches ever year, but after an investigation consumers around the U.S. starting raising questions about what they were eating. That led the USDA to allow districts opt out of purchasing that meat. Will the Anchorage School District be one of those? The short answer: Yes. “It's what the public wants. It is and has been a safe product, certainly records would indicate that, but the public would like to change and we respect that,” said Eaton. It's likely not all of the beef will be used by the end of the year, but Eaton says schools won't be bombarded with the product. “It’s important to note if any parents or students are worried, we offer choices every day. If they don't choose to have a beef product, they can have things like chicken and salad and things like that. So there's definitely other choices available,” said Eaton. Even more choices will be available next year when the district plans to add more fresh fruits and veggies to the menu and will incorporate whole grains as well. For now the nutrition director advises parents, if they have a problem with the beef, have their kids choose to eat something else. Grocery stores around the country are also opting out of the pink slime ground beef. The list of stores now includes Albertson's, Safeway, Walmart, BJ’s Wholesale and Giant Food Stores. The nation's largest retailer, Kroger Co., announced yesterday it would stop buying the beef for its 2,400 stores in 31 states. |
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back to basics... said on Tuesday, Mar 27 at 5:32 AM
parents start making packing your kids real food to take to school....
85686184HMW said on Sunday, Mar 25 at 1:51 PM
yawn
85551054Shane said on Sunday, Mar 25 at 1:05 PM
I agree with the article, but does anyone check the grammar before publishing this thing? I couldn't get through the first paragraph without seeing two major grammatical errors. What gives? Technology is killing our language!
85548714Richard said on Sunday, Mar 25 at 1:04 PM
It seems as though we need citizens and state governments to work together with research scientists at state universities to replace the USDA and FDA. It is clear that the Feds have no interest in our health, and only care how industries can add more chemicals to our food, beverages, clothing, water, air, building materials, supplements (oh, wait, they want to regulate those ... presumably because they are not toxic and need more chemicals added), cleaning products, and even the containers for food and beverages. The federal government is unbelievable and there's no change in sight.
85548634anonomous said on Sunday, Mar 25 at 11:50 AM
The government is killing the people with the chemicals they approve in our foods. It is time to stop....if stopped the gov will save money on healthcare.....
85544436kenth said on Sunday, Mar 25 at 11:43 AM
When people want ground beef, they want classic ground beef, which is ground muscle and fat. The "pink slime" is not what people have intended to put on their tables. Lavelle is trying to compare this to peanut butter. What this would be akin to is ground peanut shells being added to your peanut butter, and telling you that is merely added fiber and that it is value added to your table. Walmart is a good example. They may have just switched away from LBT, but their previous ground beef products were disgusting. LBT may be safe to eat, but it's unappetizing. It smells like other ammonia saturated filth from the slaughterhouse floor. I may be biased as I worked as a meat cutter in a store whose ground beef solely came from trimmings from their roasts, steaks and other pure muscle cuts. But the smell, taste and texture of packer produced ground beef and ground trimmings is entirely different.
85544066Brian said on Saturday, Mar 24 at 7:20 PM
Lavelle, I agree with you to a point (factory farmed meat is disgusting) But I think this is needed as a catalyst to maybe get people asking what exactly is in their food. It still amazes me that schools have little to no nutrition education. The federal food pyramid is still wrong, HFCS is still in 90% of what's on the shelf, most school kids don't know what a fresh tomato even tastes like. People worry about the quality of the gas for their car far more than the food they put into their bodies. Very puzzling. Check out Dr Mercola's website, as well as info from Sally Fallon and Dr Weston Price. Literally a wealth of nutritional information.
85502445Lavelle Perin said on Saturday, Mar 24 at 6:21 PM
This is absurd! Pink slime was just a catchy name someone gave a perfectly safe product that stretches the protein in our food supply. Ground beef has always been composed of meat trimmings. This product simply goes a little further, utilizing trimmings that would be too tough to eat simply ground. It is forced through a tube to assure it is tender and then exposed to a puff of ammonium hydroxide gas to kill any e-coli or other germs to which the cut meat has been exposed. Why is it appropriate to clean with ammonia, but not kill e-coli germs on cut surfaces with a little gas? I was raised on a farm where not much was wasted. If you are worried about pink slime, visit a packing plant and you will never again eat meat. Visit a peanut butter factory and you won't eat that either. Food does not originate in plastic packaging. The process from farm to plastic package is not pretty.
85499666Anonymous said on Saturday, Mar 24 at 4:26 PM
I have raised 6 kids 3 still in school. My oldest son used to eat hamburgers at school before the package lunch came into effect, he has a low soy protein allergy and they put so much filler in the new hamburger he had an allergy attack and could not eat them anymore. To many fillers , preservatives in all the food at school. I tried to tell them that, its not just the beef, other foods to, so they can stay fresh in those "plastic" trays that are heating up. Cooking food at the schools should of never left, saving money meant less quality. Our kids are eating this stuff. They are the future. Have all of it tested. My kids hate the taste of these lunches, they eat pbj almost every day over this stuff. What long term effects is it going to have. I just had to vent I hate these lunches. I Remember when they used to cook food at the school and it smelled so good!
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