So, I am going to talk about “pink slime”…The topic makes my skin crawl and not in the way that some people may think. If you haven’t heard anything about this topic (like a certain loved one of mine) let me fill you in. Jaime Oliver, chef from the Food Network, did a quasi-investigation, uncovering the “horrors” of what he called “pink slime” and how it was in ground beef and in public school lunches. What Oliver failed to mention in his effort to create public outcry and to demean the beef industry, if that this product, is 100% safe. It is 100% beef. It is a byproduct. It is lean. It is completely harmless. First off, lets stop calling it pink slime and call it what it is. Which is, Lean Finely Textured Beef. A truly all beef product made extra lean by physically removing the fat via centrifuge, then treated with a slight ammonia gas as an extra measure to be sure there is no bacteria present; like e-coli.
The part that makes my skin crawl is that this is the proverbial molehill made into a mountain. This “outcry” has caused beef prices to drop. It has caused, to date, 650 Iowans to lose their jobs. And for what? Because some Food Network lackey said it was “icky”?
Call me a sheep, call me blind, I don’t care what you call me, but frankly, I don’t care what is in my food, as long as its safe and it tastes good.
Another reason my skin crawls is that this Oliver character, is making these claims to further his own publicity/agenda. He has no clue the impact he could have on the economy, especially farm economies driven by the beef industry. My parents are beef producers, so were my grandparents. My in-laws are beef producers, my husband and I are beef producers and my children are being raised to be beef producers. The claims these so called celebrities make against my industry can directly affect my livelihood, and yes, it infuriates me. Especially when the claims are baseless. What people like Oliver and others in his company fail to realize is that when beef prices drop, everyone in town is subject to feeling those affects. Farmers get less money for their product, but often, their inputs don’t go down in price, so they make less money. Less money made means less money spent at restaurants, gift stores, clothing stores, shoes stores, mom and pop stores and the like, meaning, discretionary spending goes out the window.
If there were a case of a meat packing company putting harmful chemicals or using something that is dangerous as filler, I would join in the outrage, as they would be harming the beef industry. The fact of the matter is, no one is doing that. What they are adding to the ground beef is an all natural, made from beef filler. Yes, it might not look real appetizing, but, have you ever seen a meat packing plant, or a butcher shop back room, or how about the meat cooler of the swankiest steak house in Chicago? None of those places look real appetizing. In fact, the most expensive steaks on the menu are often “aged” 45 to 60 days. Do you want to see what that “aging” looks like? No, you just want to eat it, medium rare, with a cold beer.
People are spouting the horrors of eating a by-product. This doesn’t make my skin crawl, it makes me laugh, out loud. For those of who think eating a byproduct is akin to eating what should be make dog food, I ask…Have you ever chewed a piece of gum or eaten a cup of Jell-O? Sure, you say? Terrific, those are beef by-products, but then Jamie Oliver never told you that, did he?
One other thing to note, I wonder how many of the “outraged” have no qualms eating or feeding their children hot dogs or “chicken nuggets”. I use the term chicken nuggets loosely, because I’m quite certain there’s more than just chicken in those bad boys. And you know what? I don’t care. They still taste pretty good and there are farm families whose lives depend on raising the chickens that are used in those nuggets, and I will support them, no matter what the Food Network might tell me.
Til next time
JC
Oh and P.S. Suck it Trebek....
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