Judge: Iowa State U. must shield 'pink slime' data

[alp227]

Source: AP

A judge has blocked Iowa State University from releasing documents about food safety research conducted for the maker of the beef product that critics call "pink slime."

District Judge Dale Ruigh ruled last month that releasing the information would cause "irreparable harm" to Sioux Falls, SD-based Beef Products, Inc., by revealing information about proprietary food-processing techniques.

BPI filed legal action seeking to block the release in 2010 after the records were requested by a Seattle law firm specializing in food safety. The New York Times later sought the documents.

The research was conducted by professor James Dickson, who was hired by BPI as a consultant in 2002. Dickson says his research has found that a process in which ammonia is applied to meat makes the product safer by killing bacteria.

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/04/10/pink-slime-food-safety/2070441/

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This is the full article; the article may expand later. Wonder why it's only being reported TODAY a ruling from LAST MONTH?

Judge Ruigh was appointed in 1981 by Republican governor Robert D. Ray.

[LanternWaste]

1. Upton Sinclair is rolling over in his grace at this ruling.

If an objective, peer-reviewed truth would result in an industry's demise, then maybe that industry shouldn't exist in the first place.

Regardless, Upton Sinclair is rolling over in his grace at this ruling.

[christx30]

4. This ruling is awesome

for this business I'm working on. Going to market broken glass in a plastic bag to kids 2 and up. Why? Well, you 're forbidden to ask that question or release any information you have on it.

[FiveGoodMen]

5. In his grace?

[Warpy]

6. This ruling is crying for an appeal

and I sincerely hope it will be overturned. I don't care what the University turned up, whether pink slime treated with ammonia increases the human life span or is the nasty adulterant its name suggests, peer reviewed science needs to be published. Period.

[LanternWaste]

24. I can't argue with any bit of your position.

I can't argue with any bit of your position. And here we are... money, in addition to politics and social values, now trumps science too.

Fundamentally absurd.

[KamaAina]

2. Isn't Iowa State a public institution?

And doesn't Iowa have a version of the Freedom of Information Act? Most states do.

[oldandhappy]

15. yes, state school

[oldandhappy]

16. land grant school

[AtheistCrusader]

3. That ruling tells me all I need to know about eating that shit.

Thanks for saving me the effort of reading the study.

[limpyhobbler]

7. Somebody should steal the report and post it online. nt

[kcass1954]

9. Paging Anonymous!

[underpants]

8. God forbid that someone lose money

perish the thought

[Moostache]

10. BPI board members should be served this shit at their next retreat/board meeting. (n/t)

[forestpath]

11. I stopped eating hamburger over 2 1/2 yrs. ago, the instant I heard about pink slime.

[madrchsod]

12. yummy in my tummy...meat in a tube!

dam that stuff is really good eat'n

[Tempest]

13. This is the kind of thing Anonymous should hack IMHO. n/t

[City Lights]

14. Profits over people strikes again!

[oldandhappy]

17. no justice for the consumer

another example of corporate greed, and corporations escaping accountability.

[oldandhappy]

18. judge was appointed in 1981

[Mr.Pain]

19. A little research is a good thing

I just did some web surfing and found a description of pink slime by the actual manufacturer, Beef Products Inc. They describe it as scraps that have been processed in a centrifuge and have been blasted with ammonia gas. I live in farm country where they spray ammonia for fertilizer on the fields, (this increases the PH levels and also helps create Nitrates in the soil). A high PH means that it is alkaline, which breaks down organic materials. I think I can see why its a "slime", in any case don't eat it. It cant be good for you, if its good for "Food Inc".

[Sunlei]

20. well then we can use our imagination if that pink slime company is afraid to share.

piles of rotting cow heads,tails,guts full of manure, legs and hoof, animals that died in the trailers, the vats of blood below the slaughterhouse floors, chunks of belly fat, cow fetuses,maggots, sad cowless utters dripping with milk..blow in a bunch of hydrogen, mix in some quicklime and the manure gives off as it (reacts with the crap bacteria) ammonia. strain out the solids... mmm pink slime. 100% beef

[Javaman]

21. Probably made of the same stuff as fracking fluid. nt

[Orsino]

22. "Proprietary information" is a dodge.

They don't want us to know how little meat is in our meat.

[Blandocyte]

23. If they told you how it's made, people would just make their own yummy pink slime

and the company would lose money. Sure.