Who is buying pink slime

The newspaper article mentioned the slime reference in passing. USDA dropped the ball again. The issue got renewed life when British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, who advocates for American children to eat healthier food, devoted an episode of his television show to the topic in April last year. Disgusted by the product, consumer activist organizations, food safety blogs and the media have pounced on the issue.

But that has not stopped a parade of major supermarket chains and fast food companies from spurning the product. Zirnstein said he worried at first about being deemed a whistleblower, but now does not care. The halt is a fresh blow to use of the ground beef filler, also known as lean finely textured beef, which has drawn criticism from food activists. Although the Department of Agriculture USDA and industry experts said the filler is safe, "recent news stories have caused considerable consumer concern about this product," Safeway said in a statement.

The filler triggered a public outcry this month when the Internet news source The Daily reported that 7 million pounds of the product would appear in school lunches this spring. After a furor over the report, the USDA said last week it was allowing school districts to opt out of using the beef filler starting next school year. The company begins marketing ammonia-treated LFTB. The company announced a recall as soon as it catches the mistake, though none of it gets returned and is assumed to have been consumed without leading to any reported illnesses.

The officials assume the meat is accidentally contaminated with ammonia, given that it is not labeled as being treated with ammonia. The pH of beef typically sits around 6. Company email exchanges indicate the pH levels will be lowered. The company also expands its South Sioux City plant. That year, the federal school lunch program dishes up an estimated 5. Sometime else that year, federal school lunch officials again find E.

An estimated 75 percent of hamburger patties in the U.