The Famous, UTTERLY, TRUST WORTHY and RELIABLE,‘Pink Slime’ TASTE TEST.

Mar 16, 2012 - Test: A food journalist challenged in a taste test ground beef containing what is referred to as 'pink slime against 85% pure??? [Extra lean ground beef/chicken/pork may not exceed 10 per cent fat. Lean ground meat may not exceed 17 per cent fat. Medium ground meat may not exceed 23 per cent fat. Regular ground meat may not exceed 30 per cent fat. Then there is hamburger; which may, in many cases, be up to 50 percent fat. What was or was IN the OTHER 15%, if it wasn't pure, "lean" ground beef?] lean ground beef. The journalist hoped to learn what the "pink slime' does to the taste and texture of ground beef [the answer is: ABSOLUTELY nothing, as both may be altered AT WILL]; and, how consumers can know when they're eating it. Previously, he had stated that it was difficult for schools to know whether the beef they bought from the "feds"[I must assume that he is referring to a government agency] had it or not, because pink slime — no matter what you call it or what you think of it — really, really, is made from beef (or at least BEEF BY-PRODUCTS, like WAS found in pet foods (we may need a true blue test) and therefore doesn't need to be listed as a separate ingredient. 

The taste testing of 'pink slime' burgers did confirm one thing: 'we don't, always, know what we're eating' but then, many burger/ fast food chains, journalists and retailers don't either. The use of slime, pink or otherwise, is not confined to only beef and/or ground beef products.

As for that term “PINK SLIME,” arguably, at least in so far as the United States of the Americas is concerned, it was coined in 2002 in an internal e-mail by some unknown scientist at the Agriculture Department, who felt it was not really ground beef. The term was first publicly reported in The United States of the Americas, by The Times, in late 2009, in one of the Pulitzer-prize-winning articles by Michael Moss about safety problems across the beef industry (BPI). Mr Moss described how B.P.I. struggled to find the right amount of ammonia — enough to KILL pathogens without leaving a strong, offensive, odour and/or taste.

As some-recent evidence has proven, inmany- cases, the process fails to kill salmonella or E. coli, but in most cases the contaminated product was caught, before it reached consumers.

Said journalist said, “while he could not see a difference in the meat prior to cooking, he could feel it as he made the patties. I did find that the one without the pink stuff did have a fattier feel in your hand. But, otherwise, they look, pretty much, the same; and as they’re cooking they smell the same", (read back to reference to articles by Michael Moss about safety problems across the beef industry) he said.

However, once in the pan, the burger with pink slime did not let out as much fat as the burger without it and the differences became more evident once the journalist tasted the beef. “The texture is off and it (the lean, finely textured, beef," abbreviated LFTB, and "boneless lean beef trimmings," or BLBT) is chewy and not in a good way. The other burger has a kind of meatiness (whatever that is) to it, the kind of burger chew that you want,” the journalist said. “But, this burger is chewier in a sort of gristly sort of way. You feel like you’re chewing on something that really shouldn't be there.”

The journalist also found this difference in taste: “The flavour is a lot more muted than the all-natural burger (see also: The Artificial Colouring and flavouring of Steelhead/Rainbow trout )AND I can only assume that that’s related to the pink slime,” he told ABC News. “The flavour just isn’t as robust in the meat that’s been cut with this meat filler.”

©Al (Alex-Alexander) D Girvan