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70% of all Ground Beef Contains "Pink Slime" ... and USDA Bought 7 Million Pounds of the Stuff for School Lunches

George Washington's picture




 

By Washington’s Blog

ABC news notes:

“Pink slime,” a cheap meat filler, is in 70 percent of the ground beef sold at supermarkets and up to 25 percent of each American hamburger patty, by some estimates.

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The USDA just bought 7 million pounds of pink slime to add to school lunches (up from 5.5 million pounds in 2009).


Jamie Oliver gave a must-watch demonstration on the subject a year ago:

But at least we know where the real meat part of ground beef comes from ... right?

Nope ... the World Trade Organization struck down American laws requiring labeling of beef to disclose the country of origin:

But at least beef is being tested for horrible diseases like mad cow disease, right?

Negatory: the government does very little testing ... and prohibits private citizens such as ranchers or meat packers from testing it themselves.

What Should We Do?

So what's the answer?

You could cook a pot roast or other cut of meat and grind it yourself. That way, you'll be sure there's nothing but real meat.

Or you could buy grass-fed beef. Organic, grass-fed usually contains no pink slime.

And all grass-fed beef - organic or not - has a much lower risk for mad cow than other types of beef.

Why?

Because mad cow disease is most commonly caused by feeding animal products to cows. For example, Wikipedia notes:

A British inquiry into BSE [the scientific abbreviation for mad cow] concluded that the [disease] was caused by cattle, who are normally herbivores, being fed the remains of other cattle in the form of meat and bone meal (MBM), which caused the infectious agent to spread.

If they are fed grass - their natural food - they are much less likely to get sick.

Stores like Trader Joe's label grass fed, so it is easy to find.

Grass-fed beef contains more Omega 3s than beef from cows fed corn, meat or other “modern” feeds. See this and this.

Why is this important? Because eating Omega 3 rich foods can increase gray matter in adults and boost neurological development in children. Conversely, low dietary levels of Omega 3s in mothers can reduce their kids’ IQ. (This is not entirely surprising, given that (1) our brains are about 60% fat, and (2) leading nutritionists say that humans evolved to consume alot of Omega 3 fatty acids in the wild game and fish which they ate (more), and that a low Omega 3 diet is a very new trend within the last 100 years or so).

And if you think that asking for organic beef is a counterculture hippy thing, note that Ronald Reagan insisted on organic meat.

 

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Tue, 03/13/2012 - 22:02 | 2252719 honestann
honestann's picture

Good point.  Feed them to the rats.

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 19:23 | 2245914 notadouche
notadouche's picture

What next, a milking operation that shows rats being milked for the school children instead of real milk to make a larger profit which ran as a Simpson episode over a decade ago.  

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 19:11 | 2245890 StephanStrack
StephanStrack's picture

Small Scandal here in the Netherlands when they found out that manufacturers had used road salt containg antifreeze in their products for the last several years.

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 19:05 | 2245867 ThisIsBob
ThisIsBob's picture

Hay, protein is protein.  You want to eat really well, get long.

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 19:03 | 2245864 Normalcy Bias
Normalcy Bias's picture

Wow. ...And heretofore, I thought "Pink Slime" was what would be found between the thighs of a Kardashian or Hilton. It's true, you do learn something new every day!

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 19:14 | 2245897 kaiserhoff
kaiserhoff's picture

Only a little OT.

Do ya'll get those adds for "established men and BEEYOUTIFULL women?

I guess 20 bucks in your pocket and an occasional change of underwear makes you Daddy War Bucks these days.

Who knew?

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 19:39 | 2245951 oogs66
oogs66's picture

The tag line - a good man is hard to find but a rich man is easy - is very clever

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 19:19 | 2245906 Normalcy Bias
Normalcy Bias's picture

No.

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 18:57 | 2245852 notadouche
notadouche's picture

My kids love hamburgers.  I did not understand why they refused to eat the school's hamburgers until now.  They always complained it had a "funny smell"  to them.   Wow and our school board is more worried about flavored 2% milk, yet think the burgers are of the healthy, gourmet variety.   

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 18:45 | 2245829 The Alarmist
The Alarmist's picture

But Heaven forbid you buy your eggs, milk, and produce from roadside Farmstands. They're the real danger, dontchaknow? Good thing the Congress and FDA are on the case there!

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 19:04 | 2245863 kaiserhoff
kaiserhoff's picture

Steroid free milk, pesticide free produce?  Vot gedanken experimentin das ist?  Thank Herr gott for the gubermint;)              

On the other hand, George shops in DC, where the drinking water is 50% estrogen from recycled birth control pills, which in turn are 100% horse piss. 

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 18:45 | 2245828 JamesBond
JamesBond's picture

"The average height of 15-year-old boys in Japan has jumped 3 1/2 inches since World War II. According to the Christian Science Monitor, clothing and school equipment manufacturers are faced with the problem of revising size standards to keep pace with the sprouting Nippers.  Milk is credited as being the primary cause of today's Japanese being taller and broader. According to the 'Monitor,' milk is sweeping Japan. It is readily available in railway stations, in offices, and it seems more common for young people to drink milk for refreshment than carbonated beverages. Consumption is expected to rise 500 percent within 10 years."

=======

I think we all see the link....

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 22:15 | 2246229 blunderdog
blunderdog's picture

Being taller isn't *good* for ya, tho.  Smaller people have numerous health advantages, from less stress on joints/ligaments to lower heart-strain pumping blood, etc.

I'm happy enough being on the bigger side--I can move furniture.  But it's not like it's a good thing in itself.

Mon, 03/12/2012 - 11:15 | 2247222 juangrande
juangrande's picture

I think he was referring to the use of growth hormones in the bovine effecting human growth. Here we have 6'8"/ 300+ lbs. juniors in high school!

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 18:43 | 2245822 Sudden Debt
Sudden Debt's picture

ONLY THE BEST FOR AMERiCA's FUTURE!!.!!!!!

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 18:17 | 2245786 mendolover
mendolover's picture

Best main stream article ever written about beef and commercial feed lots.  At almost exactly ten years old, this was the article that got me off grocery store beef as a major part of my diet.  The writer purchases a beef steer and follows it's progress through it's fourteen month life span.  (If the steer isn't slaughtered at fourteen months, it would die anyway of any number of digestive infections from the force fed grain slop diet.  Totally worth the time.   Peace!

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/31/magazine/power-steer.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 18:08 | 2245766 Essential Nexus
Essential Nexus's picture

Eat Buffalo.  That is what my family has decided to do.  Buffalo are first healthier than beef, and better for you than chicken in many respects.  Second, Buffalo tastes pretty good.  Just try some.  Third, Buffalo is healthier for the environment because it is generally free range and is a native species to the United States.  The profit motive means it will never go extinct.  Doesn't it make sense that a good tasting herd animal native to the US would be the main source of meat?

Pass it on if you agree.

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 23:56 | 2246352 LetThemEatRand
LetThemEatRand's picture

Ted Turner is a huge supporter of Buffalo, and owns some huge Buffalo ranches.  That will cause many Red Teamers to reject your idea even though it is an excellent one.  They would rather eat Pink Slime than eat food grown by perceived Pinkos such as Turner, who in fact was a highly successful capitalist.

Mon, 03/12/2012 - 11:11 | 2247211 Revert_Back_to_...
Revert_Back_to_1792_Act's picture

He changed the world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h89KIsZaRV8

From the documentary 'Spin' by Brian Springer.

 

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 18:06 | 2245754 BigInJapan
BigInJapan's picture

Yeah but pink slime tastes good.
I've eaten it all my life and you won't get me off hotdogs/bologna/spam/ground beef now.

Here's an idea Jamie Oliver - have a hotdog and a smile and STFU.

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 17:33 | 2245646 Raskolnikoff
Raskolnikoff's picture

Funny thing, people actually think the government gives them 'free' stuff, like this meat. Whatever the government does, you can guarantee that they will do it at a cost at least 5 times that of what a private sector would spend. 

China is a good example of this, the food supply chain for its citizens is full of crap masquarading as food, like fake eggs, contaminated milk, etc.

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 17:24 | 2245620 The Onion Of Tw...
The Onion Of Twickenham's picture

Soylent Green is people!!!

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 17:15 | 2245590 Ignorance is bliss
Ignorance is bliss's picture

No surprise that the wealthy eat grass fed organic real meat and the poor eat pink slime with lots of fat and amonia...Yummy.  No need to woory about Medicaid and social security. I think they already have an answer. Although pink slime is the current rant, there are thousands of products that should not be eaten, yet are eaten by the poor masses everyday. All of which contributes to keeping them stupid, tired, and insolvent.

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 20:13 | 2246015 Rockfish
Rockfish's picture

 

One thing that should never be eaten. Snookie!

sorry i could not help myself.

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 19:53 | 2245978 mendigo
mendigo's picture

Having read this I bought grass fed at Whole Foods for abot $8/lb.
You shouldn't eat a lot of red meat anyway.
There was a time when I used to think that quality of life improved year after year. We should be protesting this crap. Issue is we have a right to know everything about how and where the food we buy is produced - no one should be able to hide any info that the consumer values.

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 19:40 | 2245960 oogs66
oogs66's picture

But according to CPI all that counts is the pink slime stuff. - no inflation

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 17:14 | 2245585 VyseLegendaire
VyseLegendaire's picture

Don't eat anything but pure organic, preferably free range animal products.  Organic vegetables and fruits as well. This should be common sense by now.

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 17:14 | 2245581 DymanicDoug
DymanicDoug's picture

Who manufactures this?? the old timer can remember de-frosting Argentin "cubed" beef, and grinding it into good old Chicago beef suet..Pink slime seems to be a market lock...who makes this product ?? 

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 16:59 | 2245541 Hugo Chavez
Hugo Chavez's picture

I saw the video on ammonia and pink slime. It looks fine to me and the ammonia is safe and only in trace amounts at the time of sale.

I object to lack of proper labeling so consumers can choose and pricing becomes more efficient.

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 16:31 | 2245461 Divine Wind
Divine Wind's picture

I lived for a while in the W. African bush. Goat is actually pretty good, particularly slow roasted. Sheep left running around in the fields to graze also pretty darn tasty roasted with some rice or cassava on the side. The local peppers and a nice zip.

After reading this article, I will never touch beef I did not raise and slaughter myself, which pretty much means I am finished with all things Moooooo.

 

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 15:48 | 2245369 rsnoble
rsnoble's picture

Oh btw anyone ever try throwing Walmart's 73/27 on the grill??? DO NOT ATTEMPT!!! That stuff is so fatty and pink slimed it will set your whole bbq grill on fire. No kidding. Complete disaster.

My best bud is always wanting me to cook big steaks, this friday im going to a local butcher I can get sirloins that are probably 2' long and 1' wide and almost 2" thick. He'll get a good laugh out of that.  We'll cut it in half and just get stupid steak full after drinking all night.

I tried that 72oz steak challenge one time didn't get over real well.  I was thirsty as hell and was on my 3rd pitcher of beer before my name was called. I ended up eating 2 of the sides and only 60oz of steak.  Waitress was like well you couldn't eat anymore. I was like hell yeah I can im just sick of steak bring me a piece of blueberry cheesecake and I ate it. Truthfully I was ready to ear her also.  If I hadn't drank the beer I could've done it. However.....I will NEVER try it again. We were so miserable we had to get an onsite hotel room cuz we couldn't drive.

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 15:43 | 2245357 rsnoble
rsnoble's picture

Now come on be fair...........come over to my house this spring and slam a 20 pack and tell me the pnk slime thick burger straight off the grill isn't the tastiest thing you've ever had! I like hot dogs also. 

I still think it's better than going to cambodia and eating fried bat heads and handful of crispy fried bugs.

One hypocrit bunch I did see on tv are a company that uses bugs in it's food.The owners wife was promoting the stuff and when asked if she ate it her response was "No, i'm allergic to it". Ha. LOL.  This bitch will soon be voted into some gov't office im sure of it.

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 16:24 | 2245446 Non Passaran
Non Passaran's picture

Excellent comments, thanks for sharing some real-life experience!

About TFA: I don't know why the author, since he's so disturbed by pink slime, doesn't simply recommend going vegetarian? For those paranoid that's the obvious choice.

Hey what happened to those Fukushima reactors' temperature going out of control, GW?

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 15:27 | 2245323 Rockfish
Rockfish's picture

You know sometimes I think you can tell who is eating the slime and who is not just by their posts.

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 15:24 | 2245310 Rockfish
Rockfish's picture

Here is the tell.

"And if you think that asking for organic beef is a counterculture hippy thing, note that Ronald Reagan insisted on organic meat."

Ron Reagan and every other 1% woudl not touch that s...t with 10 ft pole or let their tasters eat either. It is expensive to eat clean free of pesticides, chemicals, unadulterated food.  That stuff is just fine for the morts leave the good stuff for real people whoo need it to run the show.

fubar RF

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 17:21 | 2245586 Xkwisetly Paneful
Xkwisetly Paneful's picture

Here is the tell, the human race just about doubled it's lifespan  in two generations something entirely not possible if the world was the this warmed,  polluted shithole full of unhealthy things including food.

The paradox shift is hilarious too, not only how genetically altered crops yield up to 12 times as much food per acre as 40yrs ago(you know when peak food theory was around and the world would be out of food by the year 2000) but the best is how the indigenous people's were routinely applauded for efficiently and completely using the entire animal carcass all the while the white man only used the prime cuts. Now the white man is using the entire carcass and somehow is still the bad guy-go fucking figure.

 

THe only fubar thing around is people who exist in the top 1% worldwide and the top .0000001% of all time humanity perpetually bitching and moaning about those 1/2 of 1% above them.

Yea wealth translates to healthy eating, it would be why the wealthiest nations and their entire populations who all exist in the top 1% are largely suffering epidemic obesity.

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 22:41 | 2246272 palmereldritch
palmereldritch's picture

"...not only how genetically altered crops yield up to 12 times as much food per acre as 40yrs ago..."

Making you a pro GMO shill?...what a fucking surprise.

Thank-you GMO from saving us from Peak Food...What? No GMO OIL?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-smith/genetically-modified-soy_b_5...

Genetically Modified Soy Linked to Sterility, Infant Mortality in Hamsters

Hair Growing in the Mouth

Earlier this year, Surov co-authored a paper in Doklady Biological Sciences showing that in rare instances, hair grows inside recessed pouches in the mouths of hamsters.

"Some of these pouches contained single hairs; others, thick bundles of colorless or pigmented hairs reaching as high as the chewing surface of the teeth. Sometimes, the tooth row was surrounded with a regular brush of hair bundles on both sides. The hairs grew vertically and had sharp ends, often covered with lumps of a mucous."

(The photos of these hair bundles are truly disgusting. Trust me, or look for yourself.)

Mon, 03/12/2012 - 09:54 | 2246939 Xkwisetly Paneful
Xkwisetly Paneful's picture

No GMO didn't really save the world from peak food it is all imaginary.

Afterall it is evil, it sterilizes hamsters.

(Dying of starvation is truly disgusting. Trust me, or look for yourself)

 GMO oil? Not exactly, but what is it called when current reserves are three times what they were in 1975 the first time I heard of peak oil calling for it to run out in 1995 based on current reserves.

Is that called 100% unadulterated and total bullshit?

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 20:23 | 2246034 Umh
Umh's picture

I just grabbed your comment to reply to out of many. The biggest reason human life spans have increased is the near eradication of childhood diseases. It's not so much that we are living longer, but that we aren't dying before age 10 or there about.     Statistics are .....

Mon, 03/12/2012 - 09:56 | 2246931 Xkwisetly Paneful
Xkwisetly Paneful's picture

.....not widely available for life expectancy after X age before the 20th century but thanks for playing.

So sorry comparing small pop aristocracy vs gen pop life tables is not statistics,

it is bullshit nonsense.

and although it is an interesting theory, I'll go with the widely accepted sterilization of medical equipment at number one, and treating medicine as an actual science and not some combo or witchcraft and voodoo at number two both of which obviously aided in the eradication of numerous diseases childhood and not.

Mon, 03/12/2012 - 11:30 | 2247259 Mary Wilbur
Mary Wilbur's picture

In the 19th century it was common for children to die before the age of 5 years. Women frequently died in childbirth. Doctors didn't ordinarily wash their hands before examining pregnant or delivering women so they caught hugh bacterial infections that went septic.

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 15:56 | 2245389 rsnoble
rsnoble's picture

You're right, eating healthy is very expensive.  I eat a lot of crap obviously, but I do have a large garden and fruit trees so at least I get some natural stuff.  I keep trying to convince myself to start raising chickens. Maybe this spring not sure.  Nothing like hooking one by the back foot and stepping on it's head and pulling it off.  Dogs are rather confused by something headless running around the yard.  I'm like look you BAD DOG you shape your fkn ass up or your next!

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 15:20 | 2245305 connda
connda's picture

What's the difference between the meat packing industry of the early 1900s as portrayed in Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, and today?

The Micks have been replaced by the Mexs in the labor force, and all the adultation placed in the meat is now legal.

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 15:11 | 2245288 billsykes
billsykes's picture

SO basically every company is trying to kill you. pepsi, monsanto, meat, water, air, everything all the time.

I am amazed that we can even live past the age of 3.

 

 

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 18:50 | 2245835 The Alarmist
The Alarmist's picture

The point is not that they are trying to kill us, but that they are testing the limits of what might kill us so they can wring out a few more basis points of profit.

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 16:25 | 2245449 Non Passaran
Non Passaran's picture

Or perhaps that shit really ain't THAT bad

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 15:06 | 2245277 HungrySeagull
HungrySeagull's picture

Never mind the dead livestock pulled aside and left next to the docks at the meat plant.

There was a time you could walk into a market among swinging sides of beef and pick out what you wanted.

Not anymore =(

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 15:02 | 2245265 non_anon
non_anon's picture

yep, from feeding animals their cousins dead remains to feeding the public shit, all for the bottom line.

If we went back a few centuries we would not even recognize the taste of real food from the processed shit we eat today.

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 16:55 | 2245529 Hugo Chavez
Hugo Chavez's picture

If we went back a few centuries production was so inefficient that you woyldnt kbow the taste of steak. You coyld only afford heads, intestines, and stomachs and lungs.

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