High beef prices force the return of ?pink slime?
Two years after consumer outrage forced meat processors and retailers to stop using ?pink slime? ? the ammonia-treated slaughterhouse remnants added to some ground beef ? the dubious byproduct is back in the mix as beef prices rise and suppliers scramble to cut costs.
Patty Lovera, assistant director at consumer advocacy group Food & Water Watch, notes in the video above that the renewed demand is certainly not coming from consumers. "I don't think most consumers have changed their mind and suddenly decided this is the type of ingredient they're looking for," Lovera says. "It?s economics.?
The additive was coined ?pink slime? by former USDA scientist Gerald Zirnstein, who told ABC News in 2012 that ?pink slime? was ?not fresh ground beef? but a ?cheap substitute being added in.? At the time, he said 70% of the ground beef sold in the nation?s supermarkets contained ?pink slime." The product is made by separating the fat out from meat scraps and treating what's left with ammonia or citric acid to kill bacteria.
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