"Pink slime" ire prompts key producer to close plants

[Julian Englis]

Source: Reuters/Google News

Beef Products Inc, the top producer of ammonia-treated beef product dubbed 'pink slime' by critics, said on Monday it had halted production at three of its four plants in three states for 60 days from Monday.

The plant closures were hailed as a victory by activists who had argued that the product was unappetizing, but tempered their jubilance due to the temporary loss of about 650 jobs at a time when the economy was showing signs of recovery.

Rich Jochum, corporate administrator for the South Dakota-based company, said that the temporary closure could become "a permanent suspension."

"This is a direct reaction to all the misinformation about our lean beef," Jochum told Reuters.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/26/us-cn-bpi-plants-idUSBRE82P10720120326

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I love hamburgers but the stories about the pink slime have definitely put me off my feed.

[izquierdista]

1. There is a win-win to all this

I'm sure the North Koreans would LOVE to have some more protein in their diets.

[Mz Pip]

2. Can't they process the meat

without the slime?

[sendero]

3. The slime.

.... IS the meat.

[DJ13]

7. The ammonia process destroys bacteria, and yes, theres another way

Food Irradiation - What is it?

http://www.extension.iastate.edu/foodsafety/irradiation/index.cfm

[denverbill]

4. Sell it for what it is. If you can't do that, it's dog food. n/t

[lester94111]

37. I would not feed it to my dogs

<eom>

[denverbill]

38. Me neither, but it is probably better than what goes into most pet foods anyway.

[robinlynne]

39. not good enough for animals.

[Robb]

5. 650 jobs. And this:

"Other American families will also pay the price at the checkout counter as they see the price of ground beef begin to rise while we work to grow as many as 1.5 million more head of cattle to replace the beef that will no longer be consumed due to this manufactured scare."

At 100 kg of methane per cow per year, I'm not happy with the result here.

[AllyCat]

27. Or we could cut back on the meat we consume and opt for top quality when we consume it

We do not need to eat huge amounts of meat at every meal, or even every day. A 3 oz portion is a serving. Maybe that will happen as the price goes up. People will opt for something healthier.

It is not manufactured. Ammonia in food is disgusting and not food. "But the price will go up if you don't eat our non-food item!!"

[Robb]

30. That's not what happens. Never has been.

When prices go up, families buy the same amount of a cheaper product. Always. Or did you miss the entire business model of Walmart, the biggest company on the planet??

You're also a good illustration of the problem with this whole fiasco, even apart from the wishful "let them eat cake" bit. "Ammonia in food is disgusting." Well, duh. How about if instead of soaking ground-up meat in ammonia, we treated it with a high-pressure gas that killed bacteria? Would that be less disgusting?

[AllyCat]

36. How about we stop consuming so much? I revisit my first point

We could all stop eating this stuff and look for change in the way we eat. I know it's not the American way because we want when we want it for the price we want to pay. But we could choose to eat less...

[Robb]

45. Yes, those foolish poor people.

Why can't they just change their lifestyles to coddle our delicate sensibilities?

If only they would educate themselves.

[AllyCat]

47. It is not okay for the poor to eat non-food because they are poor

We are a nation of "I want as much as I want and I want it now" that contributes to driving down the standards for everyone, rich and poor.

[robinlynne]

40. You assume what they say is true.....

[unionworks]

6. I remember a day

When it was safe to eat a hamburger a little pink in the middle. Pink slime changed that...

[Doremus]

9. Not sure pink slime is responsible for that.

Salmonella, e-coli and other pathogens in ground meat put the kibosh to under-done hamburgs.

I would attribute it to the stunningly filthy conditions at feedlots and slaughter houses, where cattle stand in their own excrement and are literally covered with it prior to slaughter.

The few cents/lb. it would cost to provide more sanitary conditions is better placed in the pockets of the oligarchy, of course.

[unionworks]

10. Couldn't agree more

... I also seem to remember a time when it was safe to eat soft boiled eggs... still is, if you buy them pasteurized...

[Doremus]

22. Your post brought back fond memories

of my mother's soft-boiled eggs. Delish!

Of course today I wouldn't touch the stuff nor any other animal protein, but thanks for the happy flashback.

[They_Live]

8. I'd like it labeled,

particularly at restaurants. I like to know what I'm eating, an what the kids are eating. It's a big issue for me. And I don't think that it is too much to ask, especially if they are proud of their product.

from the article:

Nancy Huehnergarth, executive director of New York State Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Alliance, a statewide group aimed at promoting healthy eating and changing food policy practices, said:

"It's never a happy victory when you hear people are losing their jobs. But if BPI had been transparent about the process of their products, we would not be at this point right now."

[Snake Alchemist]

13. No worries. They can get work at the irradiation plant. nt

[blackspade]

11. Mis-information about lean beef?

This crap is not 'lean beef'.
It is the crap that used to be thrown out as unfit for human consumption because it is not meat, but tendons, marrow and other generally non-edible parts of a carcass ground up and soaked with ammonia.
It is then mixed with actual meat and called 'grade A' beef.
It is totally disgusting.

[glinda]

14. Now I know what the awful smell in ground beef was....

quit using it a while back for making my dog's food. They didn't even like it.

[Rozlee]

18. Our ground beef smells wonderful.

We live in Boerne, TX and buy it from local cattlemen that sell at our Produce Days, at a couple of our specialty meat stores or for individual customers. The hamburger actually tastes and smells meaty, unlike the one we buy at the local HEB and Walmart, even though HEB states they don't use pink slime. And it's even cheaper. Always best to go local and know your beef producer.

[Snake Alchemist]

42. Odd, my dogs will eat a 2 week old cheesesteak from the street.

Or raw chicken that has been sitting in the garbage.

[Robb]

15. "Soaked with ammonia."

See, that's illustrative.

[high density]

12. Pink slime is just a continuation of the Walmartization of America

People want cheap cheap cheap and companies want profits profits profits so at the end of the day our ground beef now contains this "lean beef" nonsense that plants like Beef Products Inc serve up.

[crunch60]

17. "I'll have a burger with fries, hold the amonia". Video I saw several years ago

that I no longer can find. Someone must have removed it. It showed the processing plant where they make the pink slime. If you could see what is coming down the conveyor belts, skin, great globs of fat, tissue, and other unmentionables. yuk! Then it goes into a processor, ammonia added, flash frozen and coming out in huge bricks. It's then shipped off to be added to the hamburger patties.
When you see a sudden outbreak of e-coli, it's usually because they have cut back on the ammonia due to customer complaints. This has been going on for some time now, just on a smaller scale.

So happy I'm a vegetarian.

[Incitatus]

19. I don't like to see anyone lose their job, but I have to wonder how many of those employees

actually ate the stuff.

[dixiegrrrrl]

20. Wow...pushback is working all over the place.

Rush's advertisers,
the pipeline got delayed,
the pink slime has reacted to public pressure,( sorry about the job losses, tho)
some of the ultra sound rape issues are in retreat..

We need to continue to say NO! to these offensive and egregious Regressive behaviors.

[burrowowl]

21. Ground meat

Meat should be ground where you buy and used promptly otherwise all the multiple surfaces provide more surface area for bacteria to grow. Whilst a steak seared on both sides kills them and you can eat it rare.

[The Green Manalishi]

23. I am more concerned about the 650 jobs

Than some self righteous yuppie foodies having their sensibilities offended by what other people eat.

If you don't like pink slime then don't eat it, but I hope every one jubilating about this stops to consider some poor sot who is not going to have a paycheck next week,

FWIW, even though unemployed, I won't eat that crap either, but I am not going to run around with my knickers in a twist because it is being made and sold.

[xtraxritical]

25. Well if the products were clearly labeled as containing this stuff sure,

but they're not labeled as such so an informed decision can not be made.

[closeupready]

33. As you recognize, it's not binary - everyone can be concerned

about the 650 people who are losing their jobs.

We can also be happy that our food supply is getting more nutritious, even if in a very, very small way.

[LanternWaste]

35. Another "self-righteous yuppie with his knickers in a twist..."

Might I suggest you read Sinclair's 'The Jungle'?

Another "self-righteous yuppie with his knickers in a twist..."

[robinlynne]

41. the entire point was IT IS NOT LABELED AS WHAT IT IS. I idid not know I was eating ammonia.I buy th

the cheapest ground beef, on the rare occasions I can afford meat. Ammonia. hell no.
by products? hell no.

[Snake Alchemist]

43. They will soon be employed at the food irradiation plant. nt

[lonestarnot]

24. Couldn't swallow any of that crap until I am rightfully assured that it is no more.

Still one plant open. How many more are there?

[AllyCat]

28. that one plant is probably for the School Lunch program since they are refusing to cave

to public pressure not to feed this $hit to our kids.

[lonestarnot]

32. Prollee true that.

[truthisfreedom]

26. So what's next? Pink pork slime?

Chicken slime?

[crunch60]

29. McNuggets I believe are made from chicken slime. So say's Jamie Oliver,

the English chef, food expert and educator.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/04/mechanically-separated-meat-chicken-mcnugget-photo_n_749893.html

[marble falls]

31. Eat the slime or we'll fire 650 workers!

[Remmah2]

34. Makes me wonder what it's done to my cats/dogs over the years?

Lower standards for pet food too.

I don't feel so guilty giving my dogs part of my peanutbutter sandwich any more.

[alp227]

44. WSJ: 'Pink Slime' Controversy Hurting Beef Demand, Tyson Says

The controversy over a common ground-beef filler dubbed "pink slime" by critics has hurt short-term beef demand, a Tyson Foods Inc. TSN +0.15% executive said Tuesday.

Increased awareness and debate over the product has "put a fair amount of pressure on ground beef consumption," Tyson Chief Operating Officer Jim Lochner said at an investor presentation. The controversy prompted several grocery chains to announce they wouldn't carry beef containing the product because of consumer complaints.

Mr. Lochner framed the controversy as a "two-week event" and said that demand should "recover quite quickly."

Longer term, Mr. Lochner echoed concerns by other industry sources that elimination of the product will lead to tighter beef supplies and higher prices. "We'll probably see a 2% to 3% reduction in the available beef supply," Mr. Lochner said.

(google the title for full article)

[.99center]

46. "Unappetizing" wasn't the only concern

Last edited Wed Mar 28, 2012, 03:30 AM - Edit history (1)

The crap they were using in the process of creating the pink slime had a high amount of E.coli and other bacteria even after being treated with ammonia according to Kit Foshee a former BPI Corporate Quality Assurance Manager, who was fired for refusing to assure client's that the product was safe and later went on to blow the whistle on BPI. For those interested in learning more about BPI's ill behavior in this matter should search for the whistle blower conference that Kit Foshee gave a presentation at, in the presentation one of the issues he brings up is how they would test the ammonia levels and if they were too high they would just throw out the box they tested and send out the rest of the meat without further testing.

As someone that lives near one of BPI's plants and knew people that worked there before they cleaned house and imported 90% of their labor force, BPI can go to hell! Every other week in the local paper I read of deaths and injuries of their low payed workers caused from unsafe working conditions at BPI. My city also has been given a rather crude nickname from the distinct smell of IMO chemicals and discarded animal parts that get burned through out the night which can be smelled from 30 miles away from the plant.