Recent Beef Concerns In The Media
A recent news post raised a concern about “Lean Finely Textured Beef” trimmings and called the product “pink slime.” So what is it really? It is a meat product derived from a process which separates fatty pieces from beef trimmings to reduce the overall fat content. Since ground beef is more predisposed to E.coli and salmonella, it is then treated with a pathogen-killing chemical called ammonium hydroxide.
This process has been used since the 1990’s. It is difficult to estimate the amount of ground beef sold in supermarkets that contain these additives, but according to reports by ABC news, it could be up to 70 percent. All beef products undergo strict food safety standards, so even though it may not sound appetizing, it is considered safe.
A percentage of the beef purchased by the USDA for schools does contain these beef trimmings. However, next school year the department will give schools a choice to order beef products either with or without Lean Finely Textured Beef.
Now for the GOOD NEWS. Nine Mile Falls School District uses King’s Command Foods, Inc., a Washington state company, to process our beef products. King’s Command released a statement March 9th stating they do not and have never used ammonium hydroxide in the processing of their beef products.
As always, our first priority is serving safe and wholesome food to our kids.