Thursday, March 15, 2012

Pink Slimed

So this is what that commenter was referring to on this blog a few days ago. I had no idea: Where You Can Get 'Pink-Slime'-Free Beef
"After an ABC News investigation detailing the use of a cheap meat filler, finely textured lean beef, commonly called pink slime, which is in 70 percent of the ground beef sold at supermarkets, J. Patrick Boyle, president of the American Meat Institute, defended the practice as a way to safely use what otherwise would be wasted."

I have to say that I haven't trusted ground beef, or pretty much any meat, brought from lower-end supermarkets since the first television news reports uncovering their meat preparation practices decades ago. I am referring to the reports where they took hidden cameras into the backroom kitchens of the grocers and discovered them mixing old, out of date meat in with fresh meat. That was the deal breaker for me. Ever since, I go out of my way to shop only at reputable markets now, or as reputable as I can possibly find, in the rare times I actually buy meat at grocery stores.

I cannot begin to tell you how strongly I feel about this issue. As a business, when the health and well-being of your customers can depend on what you do, and then you go and violate that, you have lost me forever as a customer. There are no second-chances here. You have shown your true colors and nothing you will do will earn my trust again.

And, by the way, if the entire supermarket industry is harmed by these reports, then they deserve to be -- even those who are not responsible for it. It is a very powerful industry with a lot of money and should be using those resources to police itself and pressure those companies among them that are using such disgusting practices.

4 comments:

  1. Nasty! FYI Cosco has organic ground beef. Price is not outrageous and it comes packed in 3 normal size selling portions so you can freeze and use as needed without having to defrost the whole batch. Been using it for a while and it is very tasty.

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  2. The best bet is to find a supermarket that allows you to buy a piece of meat and then ask them to ground it up for you. It's more expensive than already grounded meat, but at least you'll know what's in it!

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  3. That's why I get my ground beef at Metro Meats. You tell then what kind of cut you want to use and they grind it fresh for you. No filler there! Lord knows what key food does. Considering the condition of their "fresh" produce, I shudder to think. Btw, I learned the hard way that Key Food scams customers. I tried to buy milk there in a pinch and was over charged and had to argue to get the money back. Te friend that I bought it for said she has to check everything as they ring it up because it happens on a regular basis. Why, why, why is key food the major grocery option in this neighborhood?

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  4. I never buy meat at Key any more, I had too many bad experiences.

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