The media blitz over lean, finely textured beef shamefully dubbed “pink slime” has led to lower beef prices, plant closings and lost jobs all based on false, unproven claims and media arrogance. In the wake of the smear campaign waged by electronic and social media, ABC News reported in April that “Pink Slime Maker AFA Foods Filed for Bankruptcy.” But what went unreported was the biased, one-sided ABC investigative report that left 650 Pennsylvania based employees without a job.
In addition, three Beef Products Inc. plants in Texas, Kansas and Iowa were shut down as demand for the low-fat beef product plummeted and more than 600 jobs were lost until as the company points out “people know the truth” and demand increases.
Food safety is the highest priority for America’s food producers and processors. But that doesn’t stop the anti-meat activists or the sensationalized media headlines often driven by ratings. Truth and real old-fashioned Walter Cronkite-style investigative journalism are victims as well.
The modern day “food-scare” marketing agenda began in high-gear with the 1989 Alar scare. Media arrogance and influential celebrities cost America’s apple farmers millions of dollars and for a time, the trust of the American public. Actress and political advocate Meryl Streep on 60 Minutes warned that Alar, a pesticide used on apples, was a carcinogen and was “killing our children.” Streep and talk show host Phil Donahue called apples “the most potent cancer-causing agent in our food supply.” Sadly it was not until 1991 that Surgeon General C. Everett Koop said, “Alar-treated apples posed no health hazard.” And by the time science told us it would require a person to drink 13,000 liters of apple juice a day to increase the risk of cancer, the economic damage was done!
So here we go again! The pink slime smear campaign lines up like another media ratings-driven food scare campaign using sensational headlines, derogatory terminology, alarmist rhetoric and lacking scientific underpinnings all aimed at a trusting but naive American public. As with Alar, it certainly is not science based.
Let’s examine a few facts. All beef does not end up as a steak or a roast. When the carcass or the cuts are trimmed to remove excess fat and connective tissue, there is valuable meat protein being removed in the trim pieces. A safe and effective process separates meat protein from the fat and connective tissues producing lean, finely textured beef. This 97 percent fat free product is then used in products like ground beef to reduce the fat content.
The process requires the refrigerated trimmings to be heated. Increasing the temperature provides a potential for pathogens to grow. As with any food preparation, institutionally or at home, it is important to follow recognized and accepted procedures to assure the products safety.
In 1974, the U. S. Food and Drug Administration designated ammonium hydroxide as safe for use in food processing. It has been used as a leavening agent in breads and many other products ever since. In 2001, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) branch of USDA approved the use of ammonium hydroxide as a food safety tool. It is also recognized as safe by the National Academy of Sciences, Food Chemicals Codex, 5th Edition (2004).
A puff of ammonium hydroxide gas is applied to the beef increasing the pH level of the meat creating an environment that does not allow harmful pathogens to survive. It kills salmonella, E. coli, listeria …all the nasty bugs we don’t want in our food supply.
So what is ammonium hydroxide? It is a very common compound, naturally occurring and found in the air, water and soil and is present in all plants and animals including humans. What other food products use ammonium hydroxide as a direct food additive? The list is relatively extensive. The list includes baked goods, cheeses, chocolates, other confectionaries like caramel, puddings and a variety of meat products – not just lean, finely textured beef.
In 2009, the New York Times and other major media outlets called into question the safety of the product. All they did was question the safety. They never produced any evidence or proof of harm.
To show the media dishonesty and the level they are willing to stoop to, Jamie Oliver, the host of “Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution” devoted an episode to lean, finely textured beef. As a ratings ploy for one of ABC’s ratings losers and prime time flops, the host horrified his audience when he took ground beef and dumped in liquid household ammonia with skull and crossbones, mixed it up and told viewers “you’ve just turned dog food potentially into your kid’s food” and “the USDA, who is employed to protect you, has made it legal because it’s the process, not an ingredient.” After the stunned audience witnesses Oliver’s deception of dumping the liquid ammonia into the ground beef, the TV camera cuts away to the gallon jug of ammonia with skull and crossbones, the native of England in his most superior of British accents inquires, “Now does this make you feel protected?”
Of course the propaganda attack has gone viral. Critics of the food industry and animal agriculture made it their cause. The “blogosphere” went crazy. At least one Internet site even displayed a poultry product, calling it pink slime. By some estimates, nearly 90 percent of consumers have heard about pink slime and are concerned about it.
Just like with Alar, there has been no journalistic inquiry, nor media balance.
Nobody has heard it only takes small puff of ammonium hydroxide and that it almost entirely evaporates. In such a limited amount, it is not even considered a food additive for labeling. The process has been approved and used for 30 years without ever being involved in a product recall or food safety related inquiry.
Under heavy media generated pressure, major corporations like McDonalds, Wendy’s and Safeway claimed never to have used the product or announced its discontinued use. Like Alar, there is no scientific source that has come forward to challenge the safety record of lean, finely textured beef.
Experts estimate that 10 to 12 pounds of low-fat beef is produced from a carcass using this process. To fill this shortfall, about 1.5 million more animals will need to be slaughtered each year to meet current levels of demand. With US cattle numbers the lowest level since the 1950s and a growing population to feed, it is certain that prices for ground beef will go up. Will the media accept their responsibility for the higher beef prices?
As Iowa Governor Terry Branstadt recently said after feasting on barbecued burgers: “Dude, it’s Beef!” The best way to combat lies is the truth. Today’s social media allows each of to reach out through facebook, text, email, blog and tweet to get the truth out.
