Yet another reason to buy meats and produce straight from the farmers: USDA whistleblowers have revealed that about 70% of supermarket ground beef contains a filler known as "pink slime."
The filler is leftover fat and scraps of unused beef (trimmings that have typically been used in dog food), heated then treated with ammonia, then packaged into pink "bricks" for grocery stores to mix with beef. Consumers don't even get the courtesy of a label.
Retired USDA microbiologist Carl Custer calls the pink slime a "salvage product" and does not consider it beef.
People might look at you crazy if you're one of those folks who grinds your own food, such as ground beef or grains. But if a former USDA scientist, Gerald Zirnstein, is now grinding his own beef, perhaps it's not so crazy after all.
I don't know about you, but this makes my stomach turn. What's equally sickening is that we don't get a label because, according to ABC News' Jim Avila, "Over objections from its own scientists, USDA officials with links to the beef industry labeled pink slime 'meat.'" In fact, it was former Undersecretary of Agriculture, Joann Smith, who made the decision to call it that, and in so doing, paved the way for Beef Products, Inc. (the manufacturer of pink slime) to make "hundreds of millions of dollars." Interestingly enough, after stepping down from the USDA, Smith was appointed to the Board of Directors for one of Beef Products, Inc.'s principle suppliers.
Folks, this ain't right.
Anyway, for our little co-op to start organizing and getting some firm connections to local farms, we need to hold an informational meeting. We just need a location that's big enough, and free. Please comment below or send us an email if you have any suggestions!
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