|
The LFTB story’s newest developments
Story Date: 3/22/2012
| |
Source: Lisa M. Keefe, MEATINGPLACE, 3/21/12
The LFTB snowball just keeps rolling on. The past day or so has brought several new developments in the ongoing controversy over lean finely textured beef (that critics call “pink slime”).
Retail
While several retailers, including Costco, have made statements that they do not carry ground beef that includes LFTB, earlier today Safeway Inc. became the first major supermarket chain to say that it will no longer carry ground beef with LFTB.
According to a report on abcnews.com, “considerable consumer concern” led the company to this decision, even as the chain said its beef with the controversial LFTB in it is safe.
“Safeway is committed to providing our customers with the highest-quality products,” the company reportedly said in a statement. “While the USDA and food industry experts agree that lean finely textured beef is safe and wholesome, recent news stories have caused considerable consumer concern about this product. Safeway will no longer purchase ground beef containing lean finely textured beef.”
Safeway has 1,400 stores coast to coast, second only to Kroger.
In response, Beef Products Inc. released this statement:
"We understand consumer concern, but together food makers and food sellers need to provide information to consumers so they can make informed decisions. When science, food safety and food quality do not rule the day, everyone — whether you sell food or eat food — loses. Lean Beef Trimmings is 100% beef — trimmed right off a steak or roast. And whether it’s steaks, roasts or ground beef, it is all made in facilities that use smart safety interventions to deliver it in the safest form possible to the consumer. From a ground beef perspective, the only difference here is whether it is finely ground or coarsely ground."
Safeway executives did not respond to requests for additional information.
Meanwhile …
Chef Jamie Oliver, who caused an uproar a year ago by dousing red meat with household ammonia to illustrate the antimicrobial processes used by Beef Products Inc., has launched a website, stoppinkslime.org.
In it, he encourages visitors to petition and tweet to the USDA demands that the agency disallow the use of LFTB in any products manufactured in the United States.
More education
Finally, American Meat Institute spokeswoman Janet Riley is front-and-center in a new video issued by that organization as part of its MeatNewsNetwork on YouTube. In it she describes the process by which LFTB is made, and seeks to set the record straight on the product and its use in ground beef. Watch the video here.
| |
|
|
