Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Pink Slime...get your learn on people....


Ok, I've been following the pink slime debacle, otherwise known as lean fine textured beef, and those of you on FB know I get passionate about it.  It's not even the LFTB in general, but it's everyone's willingness to attack and industry without doing their research.  It's also everyone's idea that the food industry is evil and profit seeking and doesn't care about the people they feed.  I just don't understand??  Maybe that's because I'm an insider, but those of you who know me can attest that I'm not evil, I don't want anyone, including myself, my friends, or family, to ever eat something that will hurt them.  However, since when did we as Americans with a hint of education believe that anything, much less a food product, can EVER be 100% safe?  And, if it is safe as it can be, are we really going to get pissed because we don't like the way it was produced?

Let me tell you this people, and I'm no genius, but I know my shit.....The food industry can make safe products, but unless you are willing to have additives, like ammonia (which is perfectly safe and also occurs in meat naturally) or irradiation, you are running in circles.  People constantly cry out for safe affordable food, and industry complies.  Then, some British dude gets on tv and does an inaccurate demonstration and people go off their rockers....let me educate you about LFTB that I would happily munch on as have YOU for the past years....

LFTB is produced by taking the trimmings that people on the production line have cut off and set aside.  It's then put into a centrifuge ( a machine that spins it around and around) and heated so that the fat separates from the REAL BEEF MEAT.  The fat is spun out and you are left with just the beef protein.  Afterwards, to ensure food safety, it is treated with ammonia gas, which is a USDA approved food additive that kills bacteria.  I just wish people would google ground beef production and understand without interventions like ammonia gas or irradiation (that the public cries out against since they don't understand how safe and effective it is) it's almost impossible to ensure safe meat.  There is no way to keep fecal contamination from the hides from finding it's way onto the carcass.  I mean really, anyone who has ever seen a cow's ass knows how messy they are. 

So, if you want completely natural products without safe interventions like ammonia or irradiation, have at it.  But I personally don't want to hear you bitch when you get E. Coli.  Let the scientists and experts do their best to protect you.  Yes, they want to make money, but who doesn't??  Who starts a business with the hopes of pissing consumers off, making no money, or running it like a charity?  Industry tries to make a safe and wholesome product for as cheap as possible, why? So you can afford it and yes, so they can make a buck.  Do you think Apple is in business to make you happy for free?  To feed your electronic addiction for nothing because they are nice?  Just sayin.....

PS-Food additives and industry ingenuity has been feeding you and keeping you alive for years, and nothing is 100% safe.....ever.  Not even your water supply.