'Pink Slime' Meat Debate Heats Up in Schools

[marmar]

ALBANY, N.Y. — "Pink slime" just went from a simmer to a boil.

In less than a week this month, the stomach-turning epithet for ammonia-treated ground beef filler suddenly became a potent rallying cry by activists fighting to ban the product from supermarket shelves and school lunch trays. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is set to announce Thursday it will offer schools choice in ground beef purchases in response to requests from districts.

Though the term has been used pejoratively for at least several years, it wasn't until last week that social media suddenly exploded with worry and an online petition seeking its ouster from schools lit up, quickly garnering hundreds of thousands of supporters.

"It sounds disgusting," said food policy expert Marion Nestle, who notes that the unappetizing nickname made it easier for the food movement to flex its muscles over this cause. .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/news-health/20120314/US.Food.Pink.Slime.Debate/?cid=hero_media

[zipplewrath]

1. The power of a name

Who ever named this was briallant. Consider all the stuff we eat, this is probably way down on the "bad" list. It's more of an industrial equivalent of "hobo stew". But with a name like "pink slime" it rockets to the top of the attention list.

[woo me with science]

2. The backlash could go viral in schools that don't reject this crap.

I can foresee some very creative protests by students staring at this garbage on their plates.

Of course, these days they are likely to be tazed or hauled away in handcuffs for showing resistance.