Skip to footer

National grocery chains to stop selling beef containing 'pink slime'

Federal regulators say the filler, known in the industry as 'lean, finely textured beef,' meets food safety standards. But critics say the product could be unsafe and is an unappetizing example of industrialized food production.

|
Jim Cole/AP
A hamburger made from ground beef containing what is derisively referred to as 'pink slime,' or what the meat industry calls 'lean, finely textured beef,' (r.) and one made from pure 85% lean ground beef are displayed in front of uncooked portions of those meats.
  • By Sarah Skidmore Associated Press

| PORTLAND, Ore.

At least three national supermarket operators have decided to stop buying ground beef that contains the filler now known as "pink slime."

Federal regulators say the filler, known in the industry as "lean, finely textured beef," meets food safety standards. But critics say the product could be unsafe and is an unappetizing example of industrialized food production.

Supervalu Inc. — which operates owns stores under the Acme, Albertsons, Cub Foods, Farm Fresh, Hornbacher's, Jewel-Osco, Lucky, Shaw's/Star Market, Shop 'n Save and Shoppers Food & Pharmacy banners — said Wednesday that customer concern prompted it to stop carrying products containing the filler.

The Food Lion chain, owned by the Belgian Delhaize Group, also said Wednesday that it plans to stop carrying fresh ground beef with either of two similar fillers. Both are made with beef trimmings left over from other cuts. Spokeswoman Christy Phillips-Brown emailed a statement saying that the company is working with suppliers to make the change — and that the company guarantees the "80 percent lean ground beef" it already sells doesn't contain the fillers.

Food Lion also operates Bloom, Harveys and Reid's stores.

Safeway Inc., which operates the Genuardi's and Dominicks chains, as well as Safeway stores, said Wednesday that it also has announced it will stop selling fresh or frozen ground beef with the filler.

Public outcry over "pink slime" has grown sharply as images, media reports and online petitions about it have spread.

The low-cost additive, which has been used for years, is made from fatty bits of leftover meat that are heated, spun to remove the fat, compressed into blocks and exposed to ammonia to kill bacteria. Producers often mix the filler into fattier meat to produce an overall leaner product and reduce their costs.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced this month that, beginning in the fall, the National School Lunch Program will let school districts decide whether to buy ground beef that contains the filler. Previously, it was difficult for schools to know whether beef they bought from the feds had it or not.

As a result, a number of schools have said they will stop using meat with the controversial filler.

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has spoken out against it, and fast-food chain McDonald's Corp. decided last year to stop putting ammonia-treated meat in its products.

Shares of Supervalu, which is based in Eden Prairie, Minn., fell 7 cents to close at $6.20 Wednesday and rose 3 cents in after-hours trading.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to National grocery chains to stop selling beef containing 'pink slime'
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Latest-News-Wires/2012/0322/National-grocery-chains-to-stop-selling-beef-containing-pink-slime
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe