News Article: 'Pink slime' sounds gross, but how does it taste?

[Bamaro]

This is an interesting follow up to a thread a week or so ago about pink slime meat aka finely textured beef. If you ever wonder what you are eating or what it is like, please read the link:
All this angst over "pink slime" has made one thing clear: We don't always know what we're getting when we bite into a big juicy burger.
But as a professional eater, I needed to know two things: What does this stuff do to the taste and texture of ground beef? And how can consumers know when they're eating it?
http://news.yahoo.com/pink-slime-sounds-gross-does-taste-063305245.html

Yum

 

[rtcjny]

If it safe and edible who really cares.

 

[2003TIDE]

If it safe and edible who really cares.

While I agree to an extent, it makes me pretty angry that the meat industry doesn't label the packages with "lean finely textured beef" or whatever they want to call it. Personally I don't want to eat it, and I think I should be able to make a choice based on product labeling. I want my burgers made from the good cuts of beef, not the waste parts that have been treated to make them edible.

 

[SavannahDare]

I'm just growing increasingly tired of processed foods in general. Unfortunately, I don't have my own farm and garden, so there are certain things I'll continue to eat, but I rarely visit fast food joints anymore. I rarely eat out in any restaurants anymore for that matter because we prefer to prepare our meals at home. The knowledge of what they do to our food just gives me the creeps nowadays.

 

[rizolltizide]

This is why I've sworn off beef and now eat nothing but goat.

 

[uafan4life]

If it safe and edible who really cares.

That depends upon how you define "safe" and "edible".

They're taking parts of the cow that are "unfit for human consumption" and then basically stripping all the "meat-like" parts off of the bones, straining out most of the fat, and then bleaching the rest to make it "edible".

Assuming that the ammonia used is properly handled, pure ammonia (which could be a big if) then the ammonia won't affect you unless you ingest huge amount of it while it's undercooked. However, the majority of that "meat" is stuff you shouldn't and, without chemically treating it, wouldn't voluntarily ingest.




You're banking a lot here on the proper use of the appropriate chemical(s) and methods used during this process in order for it to be "safe" and "edible". However, there have been multiple times where random inspections have found entire batches of this stuff packed and ready to ship out - en route to being mixed with real beef to then be sent to consumers, e.g., school cafeterias - that had to be disposed of due to the presence of deadly bacteria and other uglies that made it through the "cleaning" process. How much of that stuff has gotten through? Are you really comfortable with the idea that, in pretty much any batch of "ground beef" you or your children eat, as much as 25% of it could literally be trash which was harmful if not deadly to you and/or your children but was run through a wash and rinse cycle in order to try to make it "safe" and "edible", just to make it a little cheaper?

 

[2003TIDE]

I'm just growing increasingly tired of processed foods in general. Unfortunately, I don't have my own farm and garden, so there are certain things I'll continue to eat, but I rarely visit fast food joints anymore. I rarely eat out in any restaurants anymore for that matter because we prefer to prepare our meals at home. The knowledge of what they do to our food just gives me the creeps nowadays.

I'm going to try and get a garden going this year. We don't buy ground beef anymore. Also, started getting organic chicken and eggs. I stopped buying seafood that originated from anywhere other than the US. After seeing what percentage of imported seafood failed inspections for banned chemicals I just can't buy it.

 

[92tide]

That depends upon how you define "safe" and "edible".

They're taking parts of the cow that are "unfit for human consumption" and then basically stripping all the "meat-like" parts off of the bones, straining out most of the fat, and then bleaching the rest to make it "edible".

with the exception of the bleach part, this sounds like how i make chicken stock

 

[92tide]

This is why I've sworn off beef and now eat nothing but goat.

I'm strictly a vienna sausage and potted meat guy myself.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

At over 400 degrees on my charcoal grill anything "impure" gets purged. :biggrin:

 

[RVTIDER]

I'm strictly a vienna sausage and potted meat guy myself.

You gotta buy the name brand stuff, you never know what is in that generic crap.

 

[rtcjny]

At over 400 degrees on my charcoal grill anything "impure" gets purged. :biggrin:

That is exactly the way I think. When my grill reaches 500+ I am not too concerned about bacteria.

 

[bamanut_aj]

I eat ground beef like cookie dough. Y'all telling me that suddenly it's not 'safe'??

 

[rizolltizide]

I eat ground beef like cookie dough. Y'all telling me that suddenly it's not 'safe'??

Nothing wrong with a little tartare.

 

[mikes12]

I eat ground beef like cookie dough. Y'all telling me that suddenly it's not 'safe'??

I'd be willing to bet you'll die someday.

 

[Bamaro]

FWIW, the pink slime is probably the 'safest' part of the ground beef. It has already been processed to the point that any present e coli has been killed while with unprocessed ground beef you never really know.

 

[Rasputin]

I haven't read the OP but to answer the question, Pink Slime tastes like tuna from my experiences...

 

[Bamaro]

I haven't read the OP but to answer the question, Pink Slime tastes like tuna from my experiences...

Sounds like a hygiene issue.

 

[2003TIDE]

FWIW, the pink slime is probably the 'safest' part of the ground beef. It has already been processed to the point that any present e coli has been killed while with unprocessed ground beef you never really know.

While I know that is what the industry has said, I'm pretty sure batches of the stuff have had to be recalled due to e coli.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

Anytime we get our food from a third party there is always health risks. We get all up in arms over this pink slime but never raise an eyebrow at the germs galore floating around the kitchen of the Applebee's, Chili's, etc. where our food is being prepared. I can promise if most people were taken "behind the scenes" of the eating establishments they frequent they'd stop going.

At least with the beef and the slime I have some form of control over what I do with it. Like I said. When it goes on my grill it gets purified.