pink slime

[Victor Steinbok]

Just as a follow-up, it seems the "pink slime" stories are multiplying.
Last week there was a revelation that pink slime has been approved for
school lunch hamburgers. Now it gets worse--and better. We get to find
out who supposedly coined the term!

http://goo.gl/L5eC7
70 Percent of Ground Beef at Supermarkets Contains ‘Pink Slime’
> Gerald Zirnstein grinds his own hamburger these days. Why? Because
> this former United States Department of Agriculture scientist and,
> now, whistleblower, knows that 70 percent of the ground beef we buy at
> the supermarket contains something he calls “pink slime.”
> “Pink slime” is beef trimmings. Once only used in dog food and cooking
> oil, the trimmings are now sprayed with ammonia so they are safe to
> eat and added to most ground beef as a cheaper filler.
> It was Zirnstein who, in an USDA memo, first coined the term “pink
> slime” and is now coming forward to say he won’t buy it.

VS-)


On 1/30/2012 1:13 PM, Victor Steinbok wrote:
> Giving something a name can help to destroy its marketability. I am
> not sure who came up with the name "pink slime" but it does not appear
> to be the trademark of the product (ammoniated beef trimmings). As
> late as 2009, NYT failed to use the term in its article on the subject.
>
> http://goo.gl/V9l2q
>
> There is a possibly interesting turn of phrase in that article:
>
>> "Several packers have unofficially raised concern regarding the use
>> of the product since the perception of quality is inferior," the 2002
>> memo said. "But will use product to obtain lower bid."
>
> ["Inferior" modifies "perception" rather than "quality"--at least,
> this is what I see. It could fixed by replacing "is" with "as", but
> that opens another can of worms.]
>
> As for "pink slime",
>
> http://goo.gl/Ddnqk
>> McDonald's said this week that it was no longer using the
>> controversial ground beef additive known as "pink slime" in its
>> hamburger recipe. Taco Bell and Burger King have also reportedly
>> repudiated the "slime," which consists of spare beef trimmings that
>> have been treated with ammonium hydroxide to make them safe and at
>> least semi-palatable.
>> The move came after "Food Revolution" and "Naked Chef" star Jamie
>> Oliver made public calls for chains to abandon the "slime," which has
>> been manufactured by Beef Products Inc since 2001. Some are pointing
>> to his advocacy as a central factor behind McDonald's decision.
>> Even if Oliver was the most prominent critic of "pink slime," though,
>> he wasn't alone. The /New York Times/ raised serious doubts about
>> "pink slime" in a 2009 investigation of the product. It was also
>> criticized in the 2010 documentary "Food Inc."
>
> VS-)
>

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