The Pink Slime is Back

The pink slime is back. Although McDonalds and Taco Bell have banned it from their meats, the government is now using pink slime in lunch meat at public schools. The United States Department of Agriculture just bought "7 million pounds of beef containing ammonium hydroxide-treated ground connective tissue and meat scraps and serving it up to America's school kids" (Weir 1). Pink slimes official name is "Lean Beef Trimmings." It is not nutritious as it is filled with connective tissues instead of muscles, it is not the same thing as real ground meat. Aside from it not being nutritious, the ammonium hydroxide in it is a concern. Aside from being found in pink slime, ammonium hydroxide is used to kill pathogens such as E. coli, eww. It is estimated that it is found in about 70% of ground beef in the United States. Food advocates are beginning to ask for meat containing pink slime to be labeled so the buyers know what they are consuming. I think if you knew one pack of ground beef contained pink slime and another didn't, you would definitely opt for the one with out pink slime.

Sarah Weir, the author of this article, used many logos when writing. She included a lot of statistics about ammonium hydroxide, pink slime, and the meat safety in the U.S. However, I wish she gave a better definition to pink slime, she never formerly defined it, she assumed her readers knew what it was. After reading this, I am still a little confused as to what pink slime truly is. Whatever it is though, it seems disgusting and if I did eat meat I would definitely want to know what was in it, just to be on the safe side.

Seven Million Pounds of “Pink Slime” Beef Destined for National School Lunch Program by Sarah Weir
http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/seven-million-tons-8220-pink-slime-8221-beef-180500764.html