US beef industry fights back in 'pink slime' smear campaign

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

US beef industry fights back in 'pink slime' smear campaign

Wed Mar 28, 2012 1:37pm EDT

* Iowa governor seeks to counter attacks

* Governors to tour beef plant

* Beef industry caught off guard

By Andrew Stern

CHICAGO, March 28 (Reuters) - Supporters of the U.S. meat industry fought back on Wednesday to slow what they called a smear campaign by consumer activists seeking a ban on meat scraps added to hamburger that critics have called "pink slime."

"They've been a victim of a smear campaign, and I think we need to do all we can to try to counter this," Iowa Governor Terry Branstad was quoted by his spokesman as saying.

Branstad and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement they would hold a news conference Wednesday afternoon in Des Moines, Iowa, to "clarify facts regarding ... lean finely textured beef," the industry's name for the product.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/28/food-slime-idUSL2E8ESULH20120328

[joshcryer]

1. I hope this reduces the cost of pink slime.

I'll still eat it.

[Jamastiene]

2. All the "smear campaign" did was tell people what their food

looked like before it was cooked. If it didn't look like pink slime, the name would not have stuck the way it did. For some, the looks of it is a deal breaker. For others, it won't matter. Those who were into healthy eating probably already knew McDonald's and some of the other fast food joints weren't all that healthy before. So, it's a 50/50 shot whether or not they were really "smeared."

I thought pink slime was a chicken product, not beef. When I saw a video of it, they were talking about Chicken McNuggets. Shows how much I know.

Eating healthy doesn't guarantee good health, sadly. That's the cold, hard truth of it, after all is said and done. You can do everything the latest studies suggest and the Big C can still take you out of this world whimpering and begging for one more day. If your family tree is predisposed to it, count on it rearing its ugly head at some point. That is a sad, depressing fact. I hate it. I wish it wasn't true, but it is.