14 DAY TRIAL // Beef Products Inc. (or BPI for short) is fighting back at claims that its “lean finely textured beef,” or LFTB, which goes into the composition of ground beef, is not safe to be served to children in schools all across the US.
The controversy started when the announcement was made that BPI and the US government had teamed up to come up with a several-year plan that would see many millions of pounds of ground beef delivered as lunch to kids in schools.
Next came the revelation that over 70% of the ground beef in local supermarkets was actually the so-called “pink slime,” made from trimmings and by-products treated with ammonia.
As we also reported a while back, McDonald's decided to eliminate all BPI products from their burgers following a very active campaign led by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver.
Following the announcement, parents have started petitions for signatures to ban BPI ground beef from schools, which they aim to take straight to the USDA.
In response, BPI has issued a statement to say there's really nothing bad or unhealthy about the erroneously called “pink slime.”
Granted, it's ground beef made from yesterday's by-products, but that doesn't mean that it's unhealthy. Children should be safe eating it.
“At Beef Products Inc., we produce lean beef from trim. Trim is the meat and fat that is trimmed away when beef is cut into steaks and roasts,” reads the statement.
“This lean beef is used in hamburger, sausage, ground beef, and as a valuable ingredient in many other foods. We use a natural compound – called ammonium hydroxide, which is widely used in the processing of numerous foods, such as baked goods, cheeses, gelatins, chocolate, caramels, and puddings – to slightly increase the pH level in beef and improve its safety,” BPI further says.
The ammonia is actually used to kill harmful bacteria (E. coli and salmonella) that are found in the leftovers used to make the “slime.”
Moreover, BPI argues that this anti-BPI campaign now being waged in the press and by the public is based on a misinterpretation of facts: videos like the one you can also see embedded below are misleading, because ammonium hydroxide is safe for use.
“BPI Boneless Lean Beef, is approximately 94% lean beef, and made with great attention to food safety and quality,” the company states.
Even so, the parents of the children who are supposed to be eating “pink slime” for the following years are still not convinced.
