BS: An end to pink slime in US schools

Subject: BS: An end to pink slime in US schools
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Mar 12 - 05:23 AM

I rarely had school meals but, when I did, I disliked them intensely. This would probably have made me throw up - but did it taste as bad as it looks?

'Pink slime'

Subject: RE: BS: An end to pink slime in US schools
From: GUEST,CS
Date: 16 Mar 12 - 05:46 AM

I only caught a few of Jamie's latest campaigning progs, but it stood out like a very standy outy obvious thing that the US govt dept which makes legislation on food is completely in the pockets of big food production companies.

Children in US get Pizza as a vegetable in school meals, because the US govt. has pronounced in a somewhat God-like fashion that "Pizza is a vegetable."
Now I know we've all seen those pictures of carrots with willies (funny looking vegetables ), but Pizza has to be quite the funniest looking vegetables I've ever seen.

Subject: RE: BS: An end to pink slime in US schools
From: saulgoldie
Date: 16 Mar 12 - 06:03 AM

I'll have his Spam; I *love* Spam!

Saul

Subject: RE: BS: An end to pink slime in US schools
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 16 Mar 12 - 07:24 AM

Once you know what it is and how it's used, it would be hard for anyone who eats sausages or (most) hot dogs to object all that much.

Taken alone, the processed product bears a pretty close similarity to most canned cat/dog food, some of which is arguably a "more healthy" diet than many humans consume.

As to pizza being a vegetable, the USDA says only that the vegetables in/on a pizza (they must mean the olives???) can be counted as part of the "vegetable quota" each meal should contain. That pizza is a vegetable misstates what the feds said.

The effective standards only specify a "balanced total nutritional content" for each complete meal served (or at least made available) for each person, and the individual components that make it up are pretty vaguely defined and subject to interpretation by the cook.

John

Subject: RE: BS: An end to pink slime in US schools
From: saulgoldie
Date: 16 Mar 12 - 08:34 AM

All of which makes being a vegetarian that much more, um, palatable.

Saul

Subject: RE: BS: An end to pink slime in US schools
From: Charmion
Date: 16 Mar 12 - 09:21 AM

Especially if one is a vegetarian who can cook. Those who can't or won't cook put themselves completely at the mercy of Big Food.

Subject: RE: BS: An end to pink slime in US schools
From: Will Fly
Date: 16 Mar 12 - 09:22 AM

I hadn't realised that, when I posted this, my cookie had also thrown up - apologies.

As far as it resembling cheap sausage meat - which it does - I don't buy brand product sausages, only ones made by local butcher (UK Champion of Champions Sausage Maker for several years). And I rarely eat sausages or hot dogs; I make my own hamburgers...

Subject: RE: BS: An end to pink slime in US schools
From: Bill D
Date: 16 Mar 12 - 01:20 PM

When I was in grades 7-12, 55 or so years ago, the food was 'real'... not always to MY taste, but always recognizable. I ate in school cafeterias regularly, and we never had anything comparable to 'pink slime'

Subject: RE: BS: An end to pink slime in US schools
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 16 Mar 12 - 01:30 PM

Kids in the this country are going hungry. Some of them are starving, and when somebody finds a way to get them protein, all you can do is sneer.

It's just beef rescued from fatty cuts. It's not slimy. Get over it.

Subject: RE: BS: An end to pink slime in US schools
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 16 Mar 12 - 01:52 PM

leeneia, a sane voice.

We always had disgusting names for things we didn't particluarly like, in school or in the army.

I remember shit on a shingle among others (a cheese preparation on toast, or ham relative in cream sauce).

Subject: RE: BS: An end to pink slime in US schools
From: Will Fly
Date: 16 Mar 12 - 03:51 PM

I have no idea what nutritional value is in the reconstituted meat. My original question was: "did it taste as bad as it looks?"

The post headline was the Guardian's phrase - not mine.

It looks unpalatable - I didn't say it was unpalatable. Hence my question.

Subject: RE: BS: An end to pink slime in US schools
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 16 Mar 12 - 04:32 PM

The product is the lean portion of the meat in the leftover material from cuts. High in fat, the fat is removed by centrifugation, as noted in the linked article.

Yes, it looks unpalatable, but when cooked, no worse than hamburger and probably better than what is in most weiners, hot dogs, bangers, bratwurst, etc.

It does have the protein content, and is edible, falling within the budget of cash-strapped schools, but those of us who can afford better meats sneer at it.

Leeneia's assessment stands.

Subject: RE: BS: An end to pink slime in US schools
From: SINSULL
Date: 16 Mar 12 - 05:01 PM

I agree. Revolting when presented as pink slime but palatable as a lean beef protein.
Have you ever seen what chicken nuggets are made from? Kids love them.
I remember an acquaintance years ago who was apolplectic over the use of whey protein in foods. She insisted that it had always been a waste product of food production and finding a use for it was wrong because it meant the food producers were making money off garbage.

According to the experts 5% of American childern go to bed hungry. Whey protin sounds good to me.

Subject: RE: BS: An end to pink slime in US schools
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 16 Mar 12 - 05:46 PM

I suspect our cat would turn up his nose at this, unless he was starving.

Subject: RE: BS: An end to pink slime in US schools
From: Penny S.
Date: 16 Mar 12 - 06:08 PM

It's the ammonia that bothers me. That does not belong in contact with a foodstuff.

Whey protein was used to fatten pigs in the past. I have no problem with it being used to fatten children.

But wait a minute. There are children hungry because their parents cannot afford to feed them more acceptable forms of protein, so it's OK to feed them what has been used as animal feed in the past? It strikes me there is something profoundly wrong with that logic.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: An end to pink slime in US schools
From: YorkshireYankee
Date: 17 Mar 12 - 09:20 AM

One of the comments below the article mentions an important fact which was not covered in the article itself:

"The article hasn't really done the story true justice.
This meat isn't being replaced simply because it is the rubbish cuts from the cow. The true reason there has been so much campaigning against this product is the way it is treated. The meat is basically 'bleached', using a chemical that is illegal in food production. But since it provides cheap meals for schools - the govt overlooks it."

Subject: RE: BS: An end to pink slime in US schools
From: GUEST,kendall
Date: 17 Mar 12 - 09:28 AM

Who likes eggs? :-) Ever think about where they come from?

Jacqui and I almost never eat any fast food. It's an oxymoron anyway.

We had excellent meals at DiMillo's on Thursday, but for that price, we could eat 6 meals at home, and we would know who handled the food!

Subject: RE: BS: An end to pink slime in US schools
From: saulgoldie
Date: 17 Mar 12 - 09:38 AM

Yup. Vegetarianism looking better and better. At the least, organic and humanely produced animal products.

Saul

Subject: RE: BS: An end to pink slime in US schools
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 17 Mar 12 - 10:57 AM

so it's OK to feed them what has been used as animal feed in the past?

If you've ever been around any small farm that raised either chickens or hogs, you'd know that everything has been used as animal feed.

...

...

(Except tomatoes, the one thing that hogs won't eat.)



Actually, whey protein is the principal ingredient in "protein drinks" that are one of the very popular "diet foods" recommended by weight loss clinics for their more affluent patrons. Poor people can't afford the clinics, and certainly couldn't even consider paying the outrageous prices demanded for some of the "special diets" they push, but they're very popular with the (fat?) moneyed crowd, and are considered "desirable supplements" for the body builders down at the gym.

John

Subject: RE: BS: An end to pink slime in US schools
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 17 Mar 12 - 10:59 AM

Incidentally, reports say that the ammonia is not used to "bleach" the meat. It's used to make sure any bacteria are killed, in exactly the same way that it's used in many public water supplies.

John

Subject: RE: BS: An end to pink slime in US schools
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 17 Mar 12 - 01:40 PM

When I was in high school (c. 1940), ammonia cokes were popular at our local soda fountains. A few drops of ammonia were added to the Coca-Cola.

Wonder where those "bleach" stories come from. Diehard vegans?

Subject: RE: BS: An end to pink slime in US schools
From: SINSULL
Date: 17 Mar 12 - 05:35 PM

Ammonium hydroxide is used leagally and extensively in food production:
http://www.foodinsight.org/Resources/Print.aspx?topic=Questions_and_Answers_about_Ammonium_Hydroxide_Use_in_Food_Production

Subject: RE: BS: An end to pink slime in US schools
From: YorkshireYankee
Date: 18 Mar 12 - 12:01 PM

A very informative link, Sinsull. Well done.

Subject: RE: BS: An end to pink slime in US schools
From: GUEST,olddude
Date: 18 Mar 12 - 12:16 PM

Hey CS
Naw here in America with all the chemical we use on everything they figured out a way to grow pizza plants .. yup .. no need to go out in the wild and pick your own pizza anymore, ya can grow it in your own back porch pot .. :-)

We are all nuts here in the States

Subject: RE: BS: An end to pink slime in US schools
From: Penny S.
Date: 18 Mar 12 - 12:45 PM

Seen pig food and hen food prepared back in the days when it was permissible to boil up the leftovers from school dinners etc for the pigs.

As in:

Say what you will, school dinners make you ill,
And Davy Crockett died of shepherd's pie,
All school din-dins comes from pig bins,
Why, O why?

I remember the pigman coming to take the bin away.

And I've really got nothing against whey, it's in lots of stuff.

But I still feel an attitude to the poor that holds that food no-one else wants is good enough for their children is not a healthy one.

See Johnson on oats, though.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: An end to pink slime in US schools
From: Penny S.
Date: 18 Mar 12 - 12:49 PM

And interesting on ammonia, thanks for the link.

Used to sniff it in the school lab while waiting for the teacher. (Eek, H&S would go mad.)

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: An end to pink slime in US schools
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 18 Mar 12 - 12:57 PM

I've been listening to this story go through the usual cycle of hysteria on NPR, from "Don't eat the Pink Slime!"
to just Jamie Oliver and a few others call it that.
To an explanation of what it actually is (about the same as hot dogs and sausages.
To the announcement by the government that it will be OPTIONAL for school lunch programs.
To the end of the cycle of hysteria and going on to the next chicken little news story.

I notice a very similar cycle has been followed in this thread.

It is a small wonder that as a society that we are having more and more difficulty making rational decisions. Look at how we process information.

Subject: RE: BS: An end to pink slime in US schools
From: GUEST,CS
Date: 18 Mar 12 - 01:02 PM

"yup .. no need to go out in the wild and pick your own pizza anymore, ya can grow it in your own back porch pot .. :-)
We are all nuts here in the States"

Excellent, you can't stop progress Oldude!

Mind you, though I say that, in the UK some poorer people are regressing from buying ready-made meals in the supermarket chiller to actually growing there own vegetables in allotments!

Sad but true. We hush it up over hear (after all it's supposed to be a first world country, just think of the shame) but I swear my neighbour had mud under his fingernails last time we spoke!

As for Pizza plants, do you think you could discretely end me some seeds, preferably in a brown envelope?

Subject: RE: BS: An end to pink slime in US schools
From: olddude
Date: 18 Mar 12 - 01:11 PM

At first I thought you were talking about .. ahhhh, ahem .. have to force myself to say it ... that dreaded Jell-O word ... although that is probably better than the stuff I saw at the school when my kids were there

Subject: RE: BS: An end to pink slime in US schools
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 18 Mar 12 - 04:03 PM

Orange, lemon and slime. Anecdotally attributed to a Jack Benny program.

Subject: RE: BS: An end to pink slime in US schools
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 18 Mar 12 - 11:04 PM

In the 1960's, when I was in high school, our English book briefly covered how to recognize propaganda. One thing to look for is negative images that arouse the process of association. For example, "My opponent was born in a decaying shack!"

"Pink slime" sounds like much the same thing. We could carry the idea further. Let's get rid of:

green sludge (pea soup)
orange blobs (mararoni and cheese)
dirt fruit (potatoes)
========

Sometimes I wonder if today's columnists even went to high school.

Subject: RE: BS: An end to pink slime in US schools
From: Penny S.
Date: 19 Mar 12 - 06:46 AM

Dry fly pie. Currants, coconut and possibly golden syrup in a pastry case.

Face cream. Pale pink blancmange with possible strawberry flavour.

Oh, and once, at a university which shall remain nameless, meat with unreadable purple print on it. The purple colour was usually used to mark meat unfit for human use. (Also used for methylated spirit, & poisonous indelible pencils.)

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: An end to pink slime in US schools
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 19 Mar 12 - 10:15 AM

Excellent suggestions, Penny!

Subject: RE: BS: An end to pink slime in US schools
From: Penny S.
Date: 19 Mar 12 - 07:35 PM

We also had, on a couple of occasions, real live caterpillars on the lettuce.

Then there was frogspawn - either tapioca or sago milk puddings.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: An end to pink slime in US schools
From: TheSnail
Date: 19 Mar 12 - 07:43 PM

Back in the sixties there was a major health scare with corned beef from Argentina contaminated with typhoid. We called the meatloaf that arrived at our school in huge catering pans "Tinned Typhoid".

Subject: RE: BS: An end to pink slime in US schools
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 02:10 PM

Marmite- brown slime.