Enty #9: The Slime is Pink but Does it Stink?

Watching the pink slime video linked below, it is obvious why the public could be scared of this so called “Pink Slime”. It looks like Play-Doh more than what people identify as food. But is this mix something that should have actually caused such a wide spread scandal? Something that completely changed the way people consumed meat for years to come, reshaping the beef industry in a moment. Really all the media did was hype something, they provided a scary picture, a scary sounding chemical name and said this is what you are eating; nothing more. People are afraid of what they don’t understand and it seems like this fear extends greatly into the realm of food. Society by and large has become very detached from the means of production that our food comes from so when biased information appears they do not have the necessary background to necessarily notice that bias. Listening to video itself it is clear the reporters are not presenting all of the facts nor are they presenting the facts they do have in a fair way that remotely reflects both sides. They go so far as to make objectively false claims such as “the US has no standards” while talking about regulations. Clearly they have never heard of the FDA before or the amount of regulation that actually does go into the food American’s eat. They justify this claim by comparing it to what a McDonald’s Canadian spokesperson claims that “we would never use such a disgusting product in our food”. Maybe that statement had nothing to do with the quality of the product or regulation are rather had more to do with the fact the Canadian spokesperson wanted to distance themselves from the scandal happening in the US. Bad press is bad for business and if you have to throw someone else under the bus in order to keep your name in the clear than that is just good business practice.

When it is examined more closely it would make sense for the “pink slime” beef to look exactly how it does. It is “extremely finely ground meat” and what happens when you grind something as fine as they did in the case of the beef? It becomes a paste or a “slime” so to speak. Using a chemical to eliminate bacteria isn’t unheard of either and the practice of which was allowed by the FDA, declared safe for human consumption. The new way that lean, finely ground meat is being treated is through citric acid. Citric acid is a chemic that naturally occurs in citrus fruit such as lemons and limes. This process appears to appeal more to consumers and as the price of beef is increasing the demand for lean finely ground meat is increasing, showing once again that consumers care more about the price of a product than any other factor. Even misleading press releases that create a scare in the population.