No pink slime? No jobs.

[Javaman]

Beef Producers Dispute ‘Meat Glue’ Safety Allegations
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-07/beef-industry-disputes-meat-glue-safety-allegations.html

Beef producers said the depiction of meat glue by consumer activists is unfair and the industry’s practice of using transglutaminase to bind pieces of meat into a single cut is safe.

The American Meat Institute, a Washington-based trade group that includes Cargill Inc. and Tyson Foods Inc. (TSN), released information showing how transglutaminase is used in dairy, seafood and baked goods as well as in beef for texture or to bind cuts together. Transglutaminase is an enzyme sold for almost two decades and has inaccurately been nicknamed meat glue for “shock appeal,” the group said yesterday in a statement.

“Someone gave it a catchy name, so now it’s catching on,” Jeremy Russell, a spokesman with the National Meat Association, another industry lobbying group, said in an interview.

The industry is trying to gain control of the debate over transglutaminase after a public backlash earlier this year over ammonia-treated beef scraps that consumer activists dubbed “pink slime” led to lost business for Beef Products Inc. and other companies. California state Senator Ted Lieu, a Democrat, last week called for a U.S. Agriculture Department investigation into transglutaminase because of potential contamination risks.

More at link...

---------------------------------------------------

Beef company closing 3 plants, blames ‘pink slime’ controversy
http://www.thespec.com/news/world/article/719917--beef-company-closing-3-plants-blames-pink-slime-controversy

LINCOLN, NEB. Beef Products Inc. will close processing plants in three states this month because of the controversy surrounding its meat product that critics have dubbed “pink slime,” a company official said Monday.

About 650 jobs will be lost when the plants are closed in Amarillo, Texas; Garden City, Kansas; and Waterloo Iowa, company spokesman Rich Jochum said. The closures will take effect May 25.

A plant in South Sioux City, Neb., will remain open but run at reduced capacity.

The South Dakota-based company blamed the closures on what it said were unfounded attacks over its lean, finely textured beef. During its processing, bits of beef are heated and treated with a small amount of ammonia to kill bacteria. The filler has been used for years and meets federal food safety standards.

more at link...


`````````````````````````````````````````````

While I'm happy to see the pink slime go, I feel sorry for the folks that lost their jobs. In some small towns, jobs like these are the only ones available. Dancing with the devil is wrong, but sometimes he's the only one on the dance card.

[n2doc]

1. Let the market decide

Consumers have a right to be informed about what they are eating. If that means they choose not to eat crap, well, isn't that the way it is supposed to work?

[Javaman]

3. did you read my comment at the end?

I completely agree with what you are saying, but I still feel sorry for those who lost their jobs.

[n2doc]

5. Sure. But what alternative is there?

Hopefully they will be able to get jobs making whatever product takes the place of pink slime.

[Javaman]

9. One hopes but in many small towns, pink slime jobs are the only game in town.

sad to say.

I have seen my share of towns vanish from the face of the earth when the towns industry goes under.

It's a horrible thing to witness.

[madokie]

2. Slowly but surely fazing out the beef in my diet

Down to locally grown and processed now. I have circulation problems and red meat is one of the foods that is recommended to not eat.

[Enrique]

4. oh, it's "unfair" is it?

well the meat industry will be able to afford the best in their PR and legal fights, so they will have every opportunity to make their case and let the public decide. Many interests in our society can't afford to fight for fairness like industry can.

Regarding the jobs, that is always the case with fighting any kind of industry. Activists and regulators should and do consider the costs of their actions and whether their cause is worth the cost.

[Bonhomme Richard]

6. My bottom line is that they were dishonest from the get go.

It's one thing to sneak the meat into fast food burgers because that is kind of expected. It's quite another to mix it in with ground beef bought at the supermarket when you think you are paying for ground beef. Now if you were given a choice between x dollars for ground beef and x dollars for ground beef with filler then I don't think there would be an issue.
In one of their corporate rooms someone made a choice to sneak it in through the back door to boost sales. They made the decision and now they got caught.

[Capt. Obvious]

7. MEAT AND YOU, PARTNERS IN FREEDOM

The Meat Council thanks you.

Now, enjoy this complimentary tripe.

[Mc Mike]

15. When I grow up, I want to graduate from Bovine U.

[Capt. Obvious]

16. Possibly one of Ralph's greatest lines

along with, "me flunk English, that's unpossible"

[Mc Mike]

17. That show still has a top notch writing staff, Cap'n.

Great pic, and post from the meat council, by the way.

[leftyohiolib]

8. i dont think this is the pink slime the article is refering to. this is a meat glue

used to join meat. for example they can take strips of stew meat glue it together and form it to look like filet mignon. so they can charge you filet prices and serve you stew meat

[avogadro]

10. Have you seen

video of hot dog weiners being made? Looks just like pink slime.

[bluedigger]

11. I view it as a zero sum exercise.

US consumers haven't reduced their caloric needs and have substituted other products to account for this. That means other food suppliers have increased production and hired additional workers in response to increased demand. You dance with the devil and sometimes the music stops unexpectedly.

[jwirr]

12. That was a given. No nukes no jobs could also be said but some things just need to be changed

and better ideas put in their places.

[noamnety]

13. You know what would create more jobs for them?

Less factory farms. Maybe the company spokesman could work on that. If he really cared about the peoples' jobs instead of the corporate profits, I mean.

[Mc Mike]

14. +1.

The meat industry is pulling the plug on those workers' jobs, emotionally blackmailing the consumers. If we don't eat the corporate by-product, then fellow Americans get thrown out of work.

But the by-product still has to be processed for disposal. The corporations still have to pay to get rid of it. There should be some regulation and oversight of the industry that forces it to employ people to safely dispose of this waste.