Pink slime in 70% of ground beef!

I see nothing positive about this whole process- except saving a few cents per burger.

And a few cents per burger, calculated over a bazillion burgers, adds right up. I think this factoid near the end pretty much tells the tale:

ABC News has learned the woman who made the decision to OK the mix is a former undersecretary of agriculture, Joann Smith. It was a call that led to hundred of millions of dollars for Beef Products Inc., the makers of pink slime.

When Smith stepped down from the USDA in 1993, BPI’s principal major supplier appointed her to its board of directors, where she made at least $1.2 million over 17 years.

Not that I agree with this practice, but the woman only got $70,600 a year serving on the BPI board. That's nothing compared to some of the shenanigans that go on with former Congressmen, Senators, Cabinet Members and people on the Fed board and the money they get after they are finished with their "public service".

Yeah but that $70k a year to serve ON THE BOARD. Not $70 year for a full time job salary, $70k to attend a few meetings a year and potentially do nothing at all. Pretty shady if you ask me.

Yeah but that $70k a year to serve ON THE BOARD. Not $70 year for a full time job salary, $70k to attend a few meetings a year and potentially do nothing at all. Pretty shady if you ask me.

Currently, that is cheap for a board member. Averaged over last 17 years, probably pretty standard.

Of course its shady, but in $ value, less so than most executive/legislative->lobbyist/corporate type moves.

I'd guess the 900 million plus that are hungry in the world wouldn't complain about this food.

http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/Lea ... 202002.htm

Interestingly some of my Vegan friends have weighed in in favor of pink slime. They reason the less waste per animal means less harmful impact to the planet and if us carnivores are going to poison ourselves with meat, we may as well do like the French who eat just about every part of the pig.

FWIW a pound of ground beef bought at my German supermarkt the other day had the following in the fine print: Less than 18% fat to lean meat ratio and less than 15% connective tissue to lean beef ratio. 15% connective tissue? Urk!