'Pink Slime' For Lunch: Schools Can Opt Out Of Ammonia-Treated Ground Beef Filler

"Pink slime" might soon have a leaner presence in public schools than many might have initially anticipated.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced today that it will offer schools an option between two types of ground meat to purchase for student meals. The move is in response to requests from districts amid a weeks-long firestorm of public outcry against the ammonia-treated cow product.

The controversy was spurred by a report earlier this month by The Daily revealing that the USDA planned to purchase 7 million pounds of ground beef for schools that is mixed with "lean finely textured beef," or what has been nicknamed "pink slime." Two microbiologists, Carl Custer and Gerald Zernstein, said they warned the USDA against the "high risk" product years ago, but federal officials did not heed their advice.

The lean finely textured beef is a low-cost product rendered from the mostly fatty outside trim of cow carcasses or leftovers from other cuts. To salvage every bit of meat, the trimmings, combined with connective tissues and cartilage, are heated at a low temperature to remove about 95 percent of the fat. The resulting product is then compressed into blocks to be mixed into ground beef and treated with ammonium hydroxide (essentially ammonia and water) to kill pathogens like E. coli and salmonella that could have emerged during the rendering process.

Discovery of the USDA's purchase prompted Houston mother of two Bettina Siegel to start an online petition on Change.org asking Secretary of Agriculure Tom Vilsack to "please put an immediate end to the use of 'pink slime' in our children's school food." The petition had more than 225,000 signatures as of Thursday morning.

The USDA contracted to buy more than 111.5 million pounds of ground beef for the National School Lunch Program, with 7 million pounds of it coming from Beef Products: This South Dakota-based company produces lean finely textured beef. No more than 15 percent of Beef Products' ground beef mix for schools may be composed of lean finely textured beef, according to the USDA.

The announcement grants schools the option to purchase either 95 percent lean beef patties made with Beef Products' mixed product or fattier bulk ground beef without the controversial mix. The change will not affect schools until the fall as a result of existing contracts.

But districts may have always had that choice. Administered by the USDA, the National School Lunch Program's purchases account for 20 percent of the food used in U.S. schools. The rest is bought by schools or districts directly through USDA-approved private vendors. The distribution of USDA and private vendor products varies by school.

The Chicago Public Schools elect not to purchase ground beef from the USDA and instead buy ground beef from two USDA-approved private vendors, schools spokesman Frank Shufton told The Huffington Post. "It's not even a part of the picture," Shufton said.

The Chicago district is one among several that have issued statements assuring concerned parents that it does not use the ammonia-treated lean beef mix. When schools use that product, it shaves about $0.03 off the cost of ground beef, according to a 2009 New York Times report. But other school districts say they still can't afford not to purchase from the USDA.

Schools that participate in the National School Lunch Program receive cash subsidies for meals in compliance with USDA's nutritional standards.

'IS IT STILL SAFE?'

"I have people asking me, 'So is it still a safe product?'" Zernstein, the retired USDA microbiologist, told HuffPost. "And I say, 'Well, hopefully they add enough ammonia. Hopefully. Hopefully."

Questions about ground beef's safety have become more frequent after the 2009 New York Times report revealing that despite the added ammonia, tests of lean beef mix in schools across the country revealed dozens of instances of E. coli and salmonella pathogens. From 2005 to 2009, E. coli was found three times and salmonella 48 times; this includes two contaminated batches of 27,000 pounds of meat, according to the Times.

When treated properly, the "filler" is absolutely safe for consumption, Zernstein says; it could even be safer than the raw beef muscle it is added to. Problems arise only when the trimmings aren't sufficiently to eliminate the heightened rancidity levels and bacteria that emerge during processing -- and when testing is lax or regulations aren't strictly enforced.

Still, the USDA contends that the products it purchases adhere to safety guidelines. Ammonium hydroxide is also "generally recognized as safe" by the USDA and the Food Safety and Inspection Service.

"All USDA ground beef purchases must meet the highest standards for food safety," USDA spokesperson Aaron Lavalles said. "USDA has strengthened ground beef food safety standards in recent years and only allows products into commerce that we have confidence are safe."

'BEEF' ISN'T EXACTLY BEEF

Schools aren't the only ones affected. According to an ABC News investigation, lean finely textured beef is mixed into 70 percent of ground beef sold in supermarkets across the country -- but meat-packers and grocery stores aren't required by law to include "lean finely textured beef" on package labels because the USDA categorizes it as meat.

Beef Products and other industry players have sought to debunk "myths of 'pink slime,'" asserting that beef trimmings are 100 percent USDA-inspected beef and edible.

"Our lean beef is 100 percent beef," Beef Products spokesman Rich Jochum told HuffPost. "No other part of the animal or any other product is in our lean beef."

Even so, consumers and parents want to know just what they're consuming, says Siegel, the Lunch Tray blogger who started the Change.org petition.

People don't feel it's quite right to refer to both lean finely textured beef and ground beef as "beef," Siegel said. "It's about the overall issue of disclosure."

The controversial mix does have some useful qualities. Adding the product to otherwise very lean beef patties makes the texture of the cooked meat softer and more appealing. Its production could be termed a sustainable practice in that it salvages protein that may otherwise be wasted and it makes ground beef cheaper: Fresh 50 percent lean trimmings -- the raw product that Beef Products renders -- sold at an average of $.95 a pound last week, compared with 80 percent lean ground beef chuck for $1.84 a pound and 93 percent lean ground beef for $2.50 a pound.

Beef Products maintains its product is a nutritiously equivalent or superior substitute for ground beef muscle, and a side-by-side comparison of nutrition labels for the two would yield the same conclusion.

But what the labels don't tell consumers, experts say, is the ultimate nutritional value behind the numbers on those labels. A 1996 Journal of Food Science report revealed that ground beef muscle is 69.2 percent soluble protein while lean finely textured beef is only 22.8 percent soluble protein -- the protein most easily digestible by children. (See a visual comparison in the graphic below.)

Additionally, ground beef muscle is about 18.3 percent collagen -- the predominant ingredient of connective tissue -- while lean finely textured beef is about 36.8 percent collagen. Collagen is what's considered an incomplete protein; its amino acid composition is different from that of a complete protein like muscle meat, eggs and fish. Complete proteins are used by the body for growth and repair, but people burn up the calories in incomplete proteins in about the way that they process sugar unless they are consumed with specific foods to result in a complete protein during digestion.

Treating the lean beef product with ammonia might also change the amino acids in proteins, further reducing the nutritional value, according to a 1980 University of California study.

But when it comes to consumer nutrition labels, complete and incomplete proteins are the same thing, making the two indistinguishable to those seeking information on what they're actually buying.

"They're calling this a meat; it's not. It's connective tissue and it is a much poorer quality protein even if they treat it, however they may treat it, to make it more digestible or more integrated," Sharon Akabas, associate director of Columbia University's Institute of Human Nutrition, told HuffPost. 

Although the USDA's announcement might mark a step forward for "pink slime" critics, Siegel isn't ready to claim her victory, yet. She wrote on her blog Thursday morning that she's "still digging" for answers to questions like "Is there an even larger cost differential for schools who must shoulder labor charge to convert bulk beef to patties if they opt not to purchase the LFBT patties?" or "Does this create an even higher bar for districts wanting to avoid pink slime?"

"It's economic disclosure; it's an economic fraud issue," Zernstein said. "It's really not so much food safety. Put as much ammonia in it as you want. I don't care. Kill it. It still ends up being low quality, but you at least need to label it so much percent lean finely textured beef ... so I can say, 'I'm broke; it's low quality, but I'll buy it because I'm hungry.' The USDA knows better. Their labeling people blew it."

Red Meat Can Be Unhealthy, Study Suggests.

I haven't eaten meat or chicken in over a month. Yes I miss it and it's hard. But the study below reinforces why I stopped.

Eating a lot of red meat may shorten your life, while consuming more fish and poultry may extend it, a new study suggests.


Red meat is associated with a higher risk of dying from heart disease, cancer and any other cause, the researchers reported.

For many people, red meat is a primary source of protein and fat. But meat has been associated with increased risk for diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some cancers in other studies, the researchers noted.

"We should move to a more plant-based diet," said lead researcher Dr. Frank Hu, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. "This can substantially reduce the risk of chronic disease and the risk of premature death."

For the study, Hu's team collected data on more than 37,600 men who took part in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study and more than 83,600 women in the Nurses' Health Study.

Over 28 years, almost 24,000 of the study participants died. Nearly 6,000 of the deaths were from cardiovascular disease and more than 9,000 were from cancer, the researchers found.

Hu's group calculated that for every daily serving of red meat, the risk of dying increased 12 percent. Broken down further, the researchers found the risk was 13 percent for a serving of unprocessed red meat and 20 percent for processed red meat.

A single serving is about the size of a deck of cards, Hu noted.

By replacing a daily serving of red meat with a serving of fish, poultry, nuts, legumes, low-fat dairy products or whole grains, however, the risk of dying was lowered, the researchers said.

The risk of death decreased by 7 percent for fish, 14 percent for poultry, 19 percent for nuts, 10 percent for legumes, 10 percent for low-fat dairy products and 14 percent for whole grains, the researchers found.

If people ate less than half a serving of red meat a day, deaths during the 28 years of follow-up could have been reduced by 9.3 percent for men and 7.6 percent for women, the researchers noted.

The report was published online March 12 in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

A representative from the beef industry took issue with the findings.

"The scientific evidence to support the role of lean beef in a healthy, balanced diet is strong and there is nothing in this study that changes that fact," said Shalene McNeill, a registered dietitian and executive director of nutrition research at the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.

"Research clearly shows that choosing lean beef as part of a healthful diet is associated with improved overall nutrient intake, overall diet quality and positive health outcomes," she added. "Overall, lifestyle patterns including a healthy diet and physical activity, not consumption of any individual food, have been shown to affect mortality."

"This was an observational study," McNeill also noted. "Observational studies cannot be used to determine cause and effect."

Another dietary expert said cutting back on red meat might not be a bad idea.

Samantha Heller, a dietitian, nutritionist, exercise physiologist and clinical nutrition coordinator at the Center for Cancer Care at Griffin Hospital in Derby, Conn., took issue with the notion that meat is somehow intrinsic to the human diet.

"'But we are born carnivores,' is the cry I hear when I suggest that my patients and students reduce their intake of red and processed meat," Heller said. What most people do not realize, Heller said, is that humans are not designed to handle the huge amount of saturated fat, iron and other compounds in red and processed meats that they consume.

"A diet high in red and processed meats deluges the body with inflammatory compounds like saturated fat and nitrites," she said. Over time, the body's best efforts to cope with the influx of unhealthy compounds are overwhelmed.

"We get heart disease, cancer, diabetes and other chronic diseases," Heller said. "There are numerous studies showing a link between eating red and processed meat and chronic diseases and death."

Research suggests that going meatless even a few days a week can significantly reduce the risk of these devastating diseases, she said.

"Cut back to eating red or processed meat once or twice a week to start," Heller said. "On other days, substitute chicken, fish, beans, soy, nuts, whole grains like quinoa, and low or nonfat organic dairy for your protein sources."

THE WORST DRINKS IN AMERICA

15. Worst Light Beer: Sam Adams Light

124 calories, 9.7 g carbs

Light beers generally range from 95 to 110 calories, but the Sam Adams Light contains 124. Kind of defeats the purpose of a light beer, especially when you can choose a regular Guinness Draught for just one more calorie. Choose a true light beer: Beck's contains 60 fewer calories than the Sam Adams (that's almost as little as one-half the caloric impact!).

DRINK THIS INSTEAD!

Beck's Light

64 calories, 3.9 g carbs, 3.8% alcohol by volume

14. Worst Lemonade: Minute Maid Lemonade (20-ounce bottle)

250 calories, 67 g sugars

This classic lemonade favorite has the sugar equivalent of 5 Good Humor Vanilla Ice Cream Sandwiches, and you’d need to do a full hour of vigorous housecleaning to burn off all the calories. Switch to the much-less-caloric (and equally refreshing) Crystal Light option.

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DRINK THIS INSTEAD!

Crystal Light Pink Lemonade On-the-Go Packet (16 ounces prepared)

10 calories, 0 g sugars

13. Worst Energy Drink: Rockstar Original (16-ounce can)

280 calories, 0 g fat, 62 g sugars

Americans spent $4.2 billion on high-octane elixirs in 2008. Even with dozens of brands found in the cooler, Rockstar stands out as the most sugar-loaded of the various and sundry energy drinks. Compared with its closest competitor, it has 20 extra calories, which is just enough to make it the worst possible choice for instant energy. And with research on the long-term effects of taurine and guarana still cloudy, you're better off getting your buzz from coffee, a proven source of antioxidants and other beneficial nutrients. But if you must grab a can, you can't get better than the low-carb concoction below.

DRINK THIS INSTEAD!

Monster Lo-Carb Energy (16-ounce can)

20 calories, 0 g fat, 6 g sugars

12. Worst Bottled Coffee: Starbucks Vanilla Frappuccino (9.5-ounce bottle)

200 calories, 3 g fat (N/A g saturated), 31 g sugars

Most people don't associate coffee with milk shake-like loads of sugar, but that's exactly what's happening inside this bottle. Add one of these to your diet every morning and you'll add about 21 pounds of flab to your body in a year.

DRINK THIS INSTEAD!

Java Monster Vanilla Light Coffee + Energy (15-ounce can)

100 calories, 3 g fat (2 g saturated), 10 g sugars

11. Worst Beer: Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Ale (12-ounce bottle)

304 calories, 32 g carbohydrates, 9.6% alcohol

You know a beer is in trouble when it needs to invoke the image of an oversize mythical beast just to describe itself. Perhaps a better name would have been Jabba the Hut Ale. Beer gets most of its calories from the booze itself, and with nearly 10 percent alcohol in each bottle, this brew is likely to create a beer belly nearly as quickly as it creates a buzz.

DRINK THIS INSTEAD!

Guinness Draught (12-ounce bottle)

126 calories, 10 g carbohydrates, 4% alcohol

10. Worst Bottled Beverage: Sobe Liz Blizz (20-ounce bottle)

310 calories, 1 g fat (0.5 g saturated), 77 g sugars

Don't be fooled by the natural motifs that adorn Sobe's bottles. Spin this one around and you'll see that it's made from water, sugar, skim milk, and cream. We've said it before and we'll say it again: Don't buy products with cartoon animals on the front. This repugnant reptile will shatter your weight loss dreams. In fact, this one bottle contains more sugar than 11 Rainbow Popsicles.

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DRINK THIS INSTEAD!

Sobe Cherimoya Punch Lean Machine Lifewater (20-ounce bottle)

0 calories, 0 g fat, 0 g sugars

9. Worst Soda: Sunkist (20-ounce bottle)

320 calories, 84 g sugars

All full-sugar sodas are evil, but they weren't all created equal. A 12-ounce can of Coke-the tooth-rotting standard-contains 140 calories and 39 grams of sugar. That same size can from Sunkist packs 190 calories and a staggering 52 grams of sugar. Tack on the extra 8 ounces in this orange monster and you begin to understand why soft drinks are often cited as one of the top contributors to obesity and diabetes in this country.

DRINK THIS INSTEAD!

Honest Ade Orange Mango (16.9-ounce bottle)

100 calories, 24 g sugars

8. Worst Juice Imposter: Arizona Kiwi Strawberry (23.5-ounce can)

360 calories, 0 g fat, 84 g sugars

If kiwi and strawberry are both fruits (and they are, we fact-checked it), then why does this can contain only 5 percent juice? Because it's made from watered-down high-fructose corn syrup-enough of it, in fact, to give this drink the sugar equivalent of 7 bowls of Froot Loops cereal. The most disturbing part of this beverage is that it normally costs just $.99, making it the cheapest source of empty calories we've ever uncovered.

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DRINK THIS INSTEAD!

Diet Snapple Noni Berry Juice (17.5-ounce bottle)

33 calories, 0 g fat, 2 g sugars

7. Worst Slush: Sonic Route Large Lemon-Berry Cream Slush (20 ounces)

600 calories, 24 g fat (17 g saturated), 88 g sugars

To be fair, this belly blaster is more of a shake-slush hybrid: half sugar-saturated ice and half high-fat ice cream. Think it sounds tasty alongside a Sonic Cheeseburger and fries? Maybe so, but that's a meal that will cost you more than 1,500 calories.

DRINK THIS INSTEAD!

Small Lemonberry Real Fruit Slush (14 ounces)

190 calories, 0 g fat, 50 g sugars

6. Worst Holiday Coffee Drink: Starbucks Venti 2% Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha (20 ounces)

640 calories, 21 g fat (13 g saturated), 94 g sugars

Between the candies and the casseroles, we already have plenty of temptations to deal with during the holidays. We certainly don't need Starbucks' surreptitious sugar overload thrown into the mix. The name implies indulgence, sure, but the fact that this cup holds more sugar than 9 Krispy Kreme doughnuts is pretty appalling. Settle for a candy cane in your coffee or find a different drink.

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Grande Skinny Cinnamon Dolce Latte (16 ounces)

120 calories, 0 g fat, 16 g sugars

5. Worst Hot Chocolate: Starbucks Venti 2% White Hot Chocolate (20 ounces)

600 calories, 23 g fat (14 g saturated), 78 g sugars, 360 mg sodium

Thanks to Starbucks' monstrous creation, this classic winter comfort beverage is now sullied with more than a full day's worth of saturated fat and as much sugar as nearly 4 Hershey's chocolate bars.

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Grande Nonfat Vanilla Crème (16 ounces)

270 calories, 7 g fat (4.5 g saturated), 38 g sugars

4. Worst Cocktail: Red Lobster Traditional Lobsterita

890 calories, 0 g fat, 183 g carbohydrates

Lobsterita means a lobster tank-size glass filled with booze and high-fructose corn syrup. You'd have to drink 4 regular on-the-rocks margaritas to outdo the massive calorie load. Pair that with a dinner and you might be pushing a full day's calories in one meal. If you want to get drunk, take a shot. If you want to enjoy a cocktail, make sure it doesn't start with a bottle of mix-your body and your taste buds will thank you.

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Malibu Hurricane

200 calories, 0 g fat, 35 g carbohydrates

3. Worst Float: Baskin-Robbins Large Ice Cream Soda with Vanilla Ice Cream Float (32 ounces)

960 calories, 40 g fat (25 g saturated, 1.5 g trans), 136 g sugars

If you're going to have a float, it's best to limit yourself to one small scoop of ice cream and a reasonable pour of soda, yet Baskin-Robbins' smallest portion is 32 ounces! Unfortunately, if the ice cream mogul doesn't begin offering smaller sizes, your options are limited. Either split a small float or cut the soda out of the equation.

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Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop (4 ounces)

260 calories, 16 g fat (10 g saturated, 0.5 g trans), 26 g sugars

2. Worst Smoothie: Smoothie King's The Hulk, Strawberry (40 ounces)

2,070 calories, 64 g fat (26 g saturated), 250 g sugars

To be fair, this smoothie is designed to help people gain weight—and for that reason alone, it isn’t our Worst Drink in America. The problem is that we live in a nation in which two-thirds of us are overweight, and the number of professional body builders doesn't constitute a significant demographic. Plus, if you really want to put on some pounds, just eat 9 Odwalla Super Protein bars. That's how many it would take to match this caloric load.

DRINK THIS INSTEAD!

The Shredder, Strawberry (20 ounces)

356 calories, 1 g fat, 41 g sugars

1. Worst Drink in America: Cold Stone Creamery PB&C Shake Gotta Have It Size

1,750 calories, 118 g fat (64 g saturated, 2 g trans), 140 g sugars

The PB&C is intended to denote peanut butter and chocolate, but the more accurate translation might be potbellies and cardiovascular disease. After all, this one drink does pack more calories than a dozen ice cream sandwiches and more saturated fat than nearly 20 large orders of McDonald's French fries. And what's even more depressing is that no shake on Cold Stone's menu, not even the small sizes, falls below 900 calories. Choose a small ice cream and use the 1,380 calories for something with at least a trace of nutritional value.