Attack of the Pink Slime!

[scotpens]

I'm not "ideologically" against it, and I'm quite sure it's ok (as long as health and safety requirements are met), but still... why I would have this industrially-processed stuff when I can have a real cut of meat?

Cost?

In cuisine, cost before quality is too high a cost for me.

You gotta remember, folks, he’s Italian.

 

[Shaytan]

My father was a prophet : once he told me that Americans will sell steaks in tube, like toothpaste.

 

[iguana_tonante]

You gotta remember, folks, he’s Italian.

Well, it's not like I ever let people forget about that.

 

[Amaris]

My father was a prophet : once he told me that Americans will sell steaks in tube, like toothpaste.

If it's safe, affordable, palatable, and gives access to food for people who can't normally afford it, I'm all for that.

 

[Shaytan]

My father was a prophet : once he told me that Americans will sell steaks in tube, like toothpaste.

If it's safe, affordable, palatable, and gives access to food for people who can't normally afford it, I'm all for that.

I'm not. Food is not just something that you put in your body to make it work properly. I'd rather eat less beef but something of quality.

 

[Amaris]

My father was a prophet : once he told me that Americans will sell steaks in tube, like toothpaste.

If it's safe, affordable, palatable, and gives access to food for people who can't normally afford it, I'm all for that.

I'm not. Food is not just something that you put in your body to make it work properly. I'd rather eat less beef but something of quality.

For people who don't have much money, that's exactly what it is. You try to make it as enjoyable as possible, but at the end of the day, bellies need to be filled, and sometimes you do what you've got to do. If that means buying perfectly safe, but not prime cuts, of beef, then that is what you do.

 

[Trekker4747]

That's a completely meaningless statement. Bovine spinal fluid, ground up cow bones, and leather made from cow hide are 100% beef too but I wouldn't want it in my food, especially after it's been dragged through an ammonia bath.

"Beef" means muscle tissue and it's against FDA regulations to use any part of the nervous system (spine, brains) for human consumption. And it's not been "dragged through an ammonia bath" it's been exposed to an ammonia "atmosphere" which kills bacteria. Trace amounts of ammonia might make it into the final product but nothing to worry about since ammonia is harmless to humans unless ingested in large quantities.

I fucking hope that stuff doesn't exist in Europe, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Why? It's beef, meat, it's directly from cuts of meat and isn't the "organs and spine" as you suggest. It's meat from trimmings that would otherwise not be recoverable.

Beef is meat from a cow. It doesn't mean bones, leather, spinal fluid or any of that. Deer bones are not venison. Pig bones are not pork.

Roger Wilco's statement is 100% correct.

Yeah!

Wait... what?

 

[Roger Wilco]

It's fucking disgusting. It's a waste product.

 

[scotpens]

The stuff they're calling "pink slime" is still 100% beef.

That's a completely meaningless statement. Bovine spinal fluid, ground up cow bones, and leather made from cow hide are 100% beef too but I wouldn't want it in my food, especially after it's been dragged through an ammonia bath.

Uh, did you read Trekker’s first post? The product isn’t “dragged through an ammonia bath,” nor is it sprayed with liquid ammonia. It’s exposed to ammonium hydroxide gas to kill bacteria. Are you worried that your drinking water has chlorine in it? Chlorine in its elemental form is a highly toxic and corrosive gas, you know.

Oh yeah, all those stupid people who care about what they put in their bodies. Fucking dumbasses, eh? Don't they know it's their job to swallow whatever the all-loving food industry serves them and not to question their infinitely wise judgement?

It’s one thing to care about what you put in your body. It’s quite another thing to say, “My mind is made up; don’t bother me with the facts.”

It's fucking disgusting. It's a waste product.

Waste is a matter of definition. And disgust, in this case, is totally irrational. It’s like being disgusted by the sudden revelation that many food products contain a red dye (cochineal extract) made from crushed bugs. Never mind that the stuff has been used for literally thousands of years and it’s perfectly harmless. In fact, in many packaged foods, cochineal extract is probably the most natural ingredient!

 

[Shaytan]

For people who don't have much money, that's exactly what it is. You try to make it as enjoyable as possible, but at the end of the day, bellies need to be filled, and sometimes you do what you've got to do. If that means buying perfectly safe, but not prime cuts, of beef, then that is what you do.

Beef is fat meat, it shouldn't be eaten more than once or twice a week. You can't perfectly do without beef at all and with less expensive meats (or without meat at all some veggans would tell).
In the case of processed beef, we're not even talking about lower quality. It's litteraly what I would call bad food.
Can't afford rumsteak ? Buy chicken, it's less expensive and you can have something tasty. Don't buy shit because you're poor, it's not healthy.

 

[Amaris]

It's fucking disgusting. It's a waste product.

No, it's not a waste product. It's reclaimed beef. Are you sure you know what this is and how the process works? Trekker explained it above, and his explanation of the process was quite accurate.

Beef is fat meat, it shouldn't be eaten more than once or twice a week. You can't perfectly do without beef at all and with less expensive meats (or without meat at all some veggans would tell).
In the case of processed beef, we're not even talking about lower quality. It's litteraly what I would call bad food.
Can't afford rumsteak ? Buy chicken, it's less expensive and you can have something tasty. Don't buy shit because you're poor, it's not healthy.

The beef is lower in quality, but it's not poor or bad quality, and it's safe, food grade fit for human consumption. Chicken isn't that cheap here, either, and much of it is processed as well.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

It's fucking disgusting. It's a waste product.

No, quite the opposite, really. The process strips away all of the waste.

 

[Roger Wilco]

Fat isn't waste. Why give a shit about "leanness" anyway btw? Eat turkey if you're concerned about that.

 

[iguana_tonante]

Food is not just something that you put in your body to make it work properly. I'd rather eat less beef but something of quality.

For people who don't have much money, that's exactly what it is. You try to make it as enjoyable as possible, but at the end of the day, bellies need to be filled, and sometimes you do what you've got to do. If that means buying perfectly safe, but not prime cuts, of beef, then that is what you do.

I'm sorry, but hunger, real hunger, as in being so calories-deprived that your body digest itself trying to survive, is almost unheard of in the Western World. We are not talking about Darfur's children. We are talking about First World citizens, where bellies are too full, and endemic obesity is more a concern in the working class than lack of food. People should be less obsessed with eating more, and more concerned about eating better.

 

[Roger Wilco]

No, it's not a waste product. It's reclaimed beef. Are you sure you know what this is and how the process works? Trekker explained it above, and his explanation of the process was quite accurate.

Yes, I've heard more about Pink Slime than I ever wanted to and I stand by my opinion - it is repulsive.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Fat isn't waste. Why give a shit about "leanness" anyway btw?

Fat is waste.

 

[Roger Wilco]

Fat is what makes food taste well.

eta: and btw. humans can survive well without meat, but you can't survive without fat.

 

[Amaris]

Fat isn't waste. Why give a shit about "leanness" anyway btw? Eat turkey if you're concerned about that.

Turkey's more expensive, and yes, fat is important in a diet. The process used for reclaiming the beef is to get rid of the fat to raise the lean quality of the beef, rather than pack it with fat or filler.

I'm sorry, but hunger, real hunger, as in being so calories-deprived that your body digest itself trying to survive, is almost unheard of in the Western World. We are not talking about Darfur's children. We are talking about First World citizens, where bellies are too full, and endemic obesity is more a concern in the working class than lack of food. People should be less obsessed with eating more, and more concerned about eating better.

Yes, well, I'd rather the children not reach that stage of "real hunger", so if their parents can afford the slightly lower grade but perfectly safe beef, more power to them. Yes, they should eat better, but our system is not geared toward that and will not be geared toward that anytime in the near future. The economies between the U.S. and Europe are very different, and easy access to what would be, for us, much higher quality food is a part of that. So you either do with what you can get or you do without.

 

[scotpens]

. . . Food is not just something that you put in your body to make it work properly.

I think it’s safe to say that most people enjoy eating, but some aren’t as fussy as others about what they eat. As for myself, if it tastes good and it contains proteins, carbohydrates and/or lipids that my body can assimilate, it’s food.

 

[iguana_tonante]

Yes, well, I'd rather the children not reach that stage of "real hunger", so if their parents can afford the slightly lower grade but perfectly safe beef, more power to them. (...) So you either do with what you can get or you do without.

The point is, they should do without. People are not in any danger of eating too little. If anything, this product is keeping people consuming too much for their own health, instead of reducing the intake of read meat (a bonus for their health) at the same cost.