Cooking For Engineers

[laki881]

Hello everyone, what do you think about the controversy of using pink slime as an additive to ground meat and other products?

Personally, the whole idea sounds disgusting!

[Michael Chu]

On the whole, I don't find pink slime or lean finely textured beef (LFTB) to be objectionable other than the process commonly used to disinfect the beef (exposure to ammonia gas is often used although other methods are available - it's unclear whether or not there is residual ammonia and if the amounts present form a reasonable health risk). As a food, LFTB is simply a paste made of beef protein (scrape meat and other edible tissue) similar to the finely ground chicken used to make Tyson's chicken nuggets or McDonald's Chicken McNuggets.

Of course, when buying ground beef, I expect that what I'm buying/paying for is what is in the packaging, so from that perspective, I am not okay with the inclusion of LFTB in the package without it being labelled as such. When I buy ground beef, I almost get the stuff ground at the market or grind it at home which means no LFTB.

[Dude111]

Its disgusting and they shouldnt do it!!

[xhianjohn]

Yeah, I definitely agree..

[Dude111]

I will say one thing on the matter

I think Taco Bell used to use this mixed in with thier Ground beef and it tasted good.. NOW IT TASTES LIKE DRIED OUT CRAP!! (I dont know if they do it anymore)

[Cheff Wannabee]

Hi all, I'm fairly new to this site but I am totally blown away by it. It is now my number one site. Sous Vide has totally captured my heart Been reading these boards for a couple days now and find it very enlightening. My culinary knowledge base is climbing at a frantic pace! But I'm a little dismayed at the post dates, some of the most recent ones are seven years old, so I don't know if this will even be seen. It almost seems like the people have lost interest in it. I hope that changes, though.

I just had to chime in on the LFTB topic. In my opinion the media with all their sensationalizing is what has made the public afraid of the stuff. No one wants to eat anything that has "slime" in it, no matter what color it is or what it consists of. However, to the best of my knowledge there are no documented cases of illness or death linked to LFTB. I have eaten the ground beefv with LFTB since it was first used and the only drawback I have had is some weight gain and that was MY fault. Like it a little too much, me thinks!

I do have some reservations about the possibility of leftover ammonia in the product, but then again, no known cases of health problems linked to it. It's all hypothetical. People need to learn that EVERY part of a cow is human ingestable, regardless of ones opinion of it. And in today's economy , companies have to find as many ways to cut manufacturing costs as possible in order to keep the customers buying their products. In short, LFTB is okay with me.

Fantastic site, Michael, hope you and your crew are able to keep it going and growing. I will be a life-time member.[/b][/i]

[Michael Chu]

Thanks! Welcome to the site.