Dear Rich, Tell the USDA to label pink slime Pink slime is back. The ammonia-treated beef additive made from grinding together unused scraps of beef and connective tissue is starting to make a major comeback, with sales up three-fold since 2012.1 Due to the recent spike in beef prices, suppliers have boosted their use of this cheap byproduct to keep prices low, but theres one major problem: No laws or regulations exist to require food producers, restaurants, or grocery stores to label products containing pink slime. We have the right to know what we’re putting in our shopping carts and in our bodies. As sales of this potentially dangerous substance continue to rise, we need to pressure the USDA to require mandatory labeling of pink slime. Sign the petition: Tell the USDA to label pink slime now. While the food industry and the USDA claim that pink slime is safe for human consumption, the additive raises a number of health and safety concerns. The New York Times exposed in 2009 that, despite being treated with ammonia, three E. coli contaminations and four dozen salmonella contaminations occurred between 2005 and 2009.2 What’s more, ammonium hydroxide is itself harmful to eat and can potentially turn into ammonium nitrate, a common ingredient in homemade explosives.3 Major grocery store chains and restaurants, including McDonalds, Krogers, and Safeway, among others, have already said they will stop selling products containing pink slime. Cargill, one of the largest suppliers of the additive, has already agreed to voluntarily label its ground beef containing pink slime. But stores repackaging Cargills beef arent required to disclose to consumers the existence of pink slime in their meat.4 Now its time for the USDA to mandate that companies, from the processing plant to the consumer, label beef containing pink slime so people know what they’re buying. Tell the USDA that consumers have a right to know: Label all food products that contain pink slime. Thank you for everything you do to ensure we know whats in our food. Josh Nelson, Campaign Manager CREDO Action from Working Assets
Posted on: Sun, 05 Oct 2014 23:45:35 +0000
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