The always attention-grabbing your kids are in danger cry has thrust back into the national conversation about the use of lean, finely textured beef (LFTB) colloquially known as pink slime.

McDonalds and Burger King have stopped buying from Dakota Dunes, S.D.-based Beef Products Inc. (BPI) over relentless pressure by the public and the media to not use one of its products that is added to ground beef. Now the USDAs Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is the latest target of bloggers and activists, one of whom has created an online petition at for-profit website change.org.

Even ABC aired a report Wednesday, linking former Undersecretary of Agriculture JoAnn Smith to BPIs board of directors.

The latest dust-up began Monday, when the online journal The Daily reported that the Agricultural Marketing Service plans to purchase 7 million pounds of product from BPI in the coming months.

Carl Custer, one of the two former USDA microbiologists quoted in The Daily, alleged that the product isnt muscle but rather connective tissue. But connective tissue isn't red. Any redness (or pink, in this case) is associated with myoglobin meaning it's of muscle origin.

We actually have equipment in place specifically designed to remove any sinew, cartilage, or connective tissue that may come in with raw materials, just like the companies that take trim and produce ground beef, Rich Jochum, BPIs corporate administrator told Meatingplace. Our finished product is typically 94 percent lean.

The latest criticism comes as new USDA standards have quadrupled the amount of testing required for both boneless beef and finished product. New rules for supplying commodity ground beef to federal nutrition programs 78 percent of which goes to the National School Lunch Program through the USDAs Agricultural Marketing Service went into effect July 2010.

LFTB is permissible in the school lunch program, although the product must have at least one scientifically validated intervention that proves a 3-log pathogen reduction, as LFTB could come from external carcass trim and sometimes has a higher microbial load potential.

But for all the yuck factor, the industry is concerned that the public pressure may eliminate a cost-effective, safe protein source that makes use of trim that is otherwise lost are warranted.

We use ammonium hydroxide, which we believe is the most effective food safety intervention available based upon our research, Jochum said.

The choke-hold could cripple Beef Products Inc., which uses a proprietary process that relies on ammonium hydroxide gas to raise the naturally occurring levels of ammonium hydroxide in the beef. That in turn increases the meats pH to eliminate pathogens. The company has already had to reduce its hours of operation.

Ammonium hydroxide isnt the only intervention used in producing LFTB. Cargill uses citric acid, just one of several alternatives to treat what it calls finely textured beef (FTB) to reduce the pathogen load.

These lean products are included in approximately 70 percent of all ground beef products.

"Given the increasing demand for animal protein products by people around the world hungry for them, together with a decreasing global supply, not using this lean beef for human consumption would be wrong for a variety of reasons," Cargill spokesman Mike Martin told Meatingplace.

If FTB were not used in ground beef, more muscle meat would be used, further straining an already limited supply, Martin said, estimating that 1.5 million more head of cattle would need to be harvested annually to provide enough beef to equate to the volume of FTB produced in the U.S.

To make the product, meat companies use USDA-inspected beef trimmings that contain both fat and lean and are nearly impossible to separate using a knife. The trimmings are then simmered at low heat to separate the fat from the muscle. Food-grade ammonium hydroxide also commonly used as a direct food additive in baked goods, cheeses and chocolates is just one process.

The product is later blended into foods like ground beef. Producing LFTB ensures that lean, nutritious, safe beef is not wasted in a world where red meat protein supplies are decreasing while global demand is increasing as population and income increases, said American Meat Institute President J. Patrick Boyle.

The always attention-grabbing your kids are in danger cry has thrust back into the national conversation about the use of lean, finely textured beef (LFTB) colloquially known as pink slime.

McDonalds and Burger King have stopped buying from Dakota Dunes, S.D.-based Beef Products Inc. (BPI) over relentless pressure by the public and the media to not use one of its products that is added to ground beef. Now the USDAs Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is the latest target of bloggers and activists, one of whom has created an online petition at for-profit website change.org.

Even ABC aired a report Wednesday, linking former Undersecretary of Agriculture JoAnn Smith to BPIs board of directors.

The latest dust-up began Monday, when the online journal The Daily reported that the Agricultural Marketing Service plans to purchase 7 million pounds of product from BPI in the coming months.

Carl Custer, one of the two former USDA microbiologists quoted in The Daily, alleged that the product isnt muscle but rather connective tissue. But connective tissue isn't red. Any redness (or pink, in this case) is associated with myoglobin meaning it's of muscle origin.

We actually have equipment in place specifically designed to remove any sinew, cartilage, or connective tissue that may come in with raw materials, just like the companies that take trim and produce ground beef, Rich Jochum, BPIs corporate administrator told Meatingplace. Our finished product is typically 94 percent lean.

The latest criticism comes as new USDA standards have quadrupled the amount of testing required for both boneless beef and finished product. New rules for supplying commodity ground beef to federal nutrition programs 78 percent of which goes to the National School Lunch Program through the USDAs Agricultural Marketing Service went into effect July 2010.

LFTB is permissible in the school lunch program, although the product must have at least one scientifically validated intervention that proves a 3-log pathogen reduction, as LFTB could come from external carcass trim and sometimes has a higher microbial load potential.

But for all the yuck factor, the industry is concerned that the public pressure may eliminate a cost-effective, safe protein source that makes use of trim that is otherwise lost are warranted.

We use ammonium hydroxide, which we believe is the most effective food safety intervention available based upon our research, Jochum said.

The choke-hold could cripple Beef Products Inc., which uses a proprietary process that relies on ammonium hydroxide gas to raise the naturally occurring levels of ammonium hydroxide in the beef. That in turn increases the meats pH to eliminate pathogens. The company has already had to reduce its hours of operation.

Ammonium hydroxide isnt the only intervention used in producing LFTB. Cargill uses citric acid, just one of several alternatives to treat what it calls finely textured beef (FTB) to reduce the pathogen load.

These lean products are included in approximately 70 percent of all ground beef products.

"Given the increasing demand for animal protein products by people around the world hungry for them, together with a decreasing global supply, not using this lean beef for human consumption would be wrong for a variety of reasons," Cargill spokesman Mike Martin told Meatingplace.

If FTB were not used in ground beef, more muscle meat would be used, further straining an already limited supply, Martin said, estimating that 1.5 million more head of cattle would need to be harvested annually to provide enough beef to equate to the volume of FTB produced in the U.S.

To make the product, meat companies use USDA-inspected beef trimmings that contain both fat and lean and are nearly impossible to separate using a knife. The trimmings are then simmered at low heat to separate the fat from the muscle. Food-grade ammonium hydroxide also commonly used as a direct food additive in baked goods, cheeses and chocolates is just one process.

The product is later blended into foods like ground beef. Producing LFTB ensures that lean, nutritious, safe beef is not wasted in a world where red meat protein supplies are decreasing while global demand is increasing as population and income increases, said American Meat Institute President J. Patrick Boyle.