Pink Slime

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I’m not talking about slime like children would play with or pond slime, etc. but rather…. pink meat.

You heard me right, pink meat.  To be more specific, pink beef. 

Now if you are a meat eater, you know that the beef you buy in natural foods stores and most other stores, from a farmer, etc. is not pink.   No beef  should be a red color.

So where is the pink meat coming from?

The pink meat comes from a process that cleans it with ammonium hydroxide. In other words that meat is cleaned with a type of ammonia.  That process was even shown in the movie, Food, Inc.  If  you have never seen that movie, I highly recommend it.  It will change the way you eat.

Ever had a burger from McDonald’s? 

Did you just answer yes?  Well guess what.  You have ate ammonium hydroxide meat. 

I’m not kidding you.  Check it out on their website and read the statement wherein they admit it.  Yahoo did a news article on this not long ago: McDonald’s confirms that it’s no longer using ‘pink slime’ chemical in hamburgers.

I don’t know about y’all, but I use ammonia to clean with sometimes but I sure don’t want to eat it.

Now according to their website I referenced above, as of the beginning of 2011, they stopped using the pink meat.  How many of us have ate a hamburger from there prior to that time thought?  I did. My children did. My parents did. My brothers and sisters did as well as numerous other America citizens.    What did that ammonia cleaned meat do to our insides?  That’s a scary thought.

What is even more scarier is the fact that the The U.S. Agriculture Department recognizes ammonium hydroxide as “generally safe”.  Read a bottle of ammonia though and it tells you “Do Not Ingest”.     Hmmmm… see a conflict there.   It bothers me to know that the USDA doesn’t even make companies mark packages or place a notice anywhere in their business that meat they are using is cleaned with ammonia.

I have bought ground beef (hamburger meat) from stores before that when you fried it, it smelled like a wet dog.  I wonder now if that meat was cleaned with ammonia.  Ground beef or any meat for that matter should not smell like a wet dog or any other funky smell when it is being fried, cooked, etc. 

We have been organically for a while now but was still buying meats at non-organic stores in the area due to costs.  This last week, I was able to buy our meats from a natural foods store and let me tell you the meat is far superior. We’ve ate organic meat before but now are determined to not every buy the non-organic meats again.

The movie Food, Inc. changed the way we eat and we are even more determined to eat organically and eat meat that is hormone free and antibiotic free.   I couldn’t tell you when the last time I ate a McDonald’s burger was. It’s been awhile. I do love their sweet tea though when we are out and about running errands.  I think if I ever find out they do something funky to their tea, I’ll be devastated. This ol’ Southern gal loves her sweet iced tea.

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