4 ms·
It’s not ground beef. There is no grinder grinding up chunks of meat which is the definition of ground beef. It’s mechanically separated meat and should be
by adrr 8y ago
It’s not ground beef. There is no grinder grinding up chunks of meat which is the definition of ground beef. It’s mechanically separated meat and should be called that not ground beef.
- sp332 8y agoYou're not the first person in this thread to claim that it's "mechanically separated". Do you have a source for this?
- adrr 8y agoStraight from the producers of pink slime. http://www.beefusa.org/CMDocs/BeefUSA/Resources/AMI%20Fact%20Sheet%20LFTB.pdf http://www.beefusa.org/CMDocs/BeefUSA/Resources/AMI%20Fact%2...
- sp332 8y agoMechanically separated beef has a specific definition, and this is not that. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanically_separated_meat#Safety_and_regulation https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanically_separated_meat#...
- adrr 8y agoThen call centrifugal separated beef. It isn’t ground beef.
- sp332 8y agoOk, but it's only separated from the fat. They're not sorting out bone or nerve tissue from the meat. It's like centrifugally-trimmed beef.
- adrr 8y agoYou do agree it shouldn’t be called be ground beef?
- sp332 8y agoI wouldn't mind if it were labelled better. But from the consumer point of view, what's the difference? The texture is different and it's been disinfected. Doesn't seem like a huge deal.
- GordonS 8y ago> it's been disinfected Woah... that seems like a huge deal to me
- KAMSPioneer 8y agoIt's considered extremely safe. The disinfectant used is either citric acid or ammonia (and the remaining ammonia residue is not enough to be harmful to humans). It does sound concerning, but it generally is not.
- adrr 8y agoSafety of the disinfectant isn't the issue. It's the care of the food in the process. Ground beef processing needs to be handled with care to prevent it from being contaminated with feces to prevent Ecoli H157 outbreaks. I'd rather my food receive greater care in handling and preventing fecal contamination then just blanket disinfecting it.
- KAMSPioneer 8y agoI understand the concern wrt E. Coli (I assume you were referring to O157:H7 -- the number after the O refers to the antigen produced by the lipopolysaccharide layer, and H refers to the flaggelar antigen, so H157 is likely an error). Also, the USDA has categorized other E. Coli stains as adulterants: O26, O131, O145, O45, O111, O121. Also, Salmonella has a tendency to grow in ground production areas and is a concern as well. The fact of the matter is, ammonia disinfection is a tool to combat these threats, and is useful even in instances where proper food handling practices are observed. After all, if ground beef is prepared correctly by the consumer (i.e. cooked to 160F, not cross-contaminated), then it's a moot point anyway. But we still do all of this as a precaution to protect people. And because it's the law.