The fight for quality control of ground beef began in 2012 when ABC began news coverage of a meat product affectionately nicknamed "pink slime". The technical name which the meat industries use for it is "lean, finely textured beef". Used as a filler for ground meat, this product is composed of meat trimmings and ammonia to make it safe to eat. It used to only be use in dog food and oil before the USDA saw it fit for human consumption. Now, lean, finely textured beef ails the U.S. and contaminates our supermarkets. The quality of the meat we consume is so low that other countries including Japan, China, and European countries ban the use of American beef.
Part of the problem comes from how American cattle are raised, slaughtered, packaged, and shipped out. There is very low quality control which allows suppliers to get away with products like pink slime. Defenders say it is 100% natural and safe to eat, but are you ok knowing that the U.S. food industry is letting you eat something once fit for only dogs? Are you ok with an industry that lets 70% of all processed meat products to contain this filler?
It's concerning that the U.S. meat lobby believes they can get away with this and that our health and well being is traded away for a quick buck. Can it get any worse? Will meat control ever improve in this country or will the meat industry continue to get away with this?
I agree, the problem begins with how the animal is first raised.
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