Avoiding ammonium hydroxide in ground beef

How to stay slime-free  First, the bad news. It doesn’t look like “pink slime” is going away anytime soon.

If you’re not familiar with pink slime and the controversy surrounding it, here’s a quick recap. Pink slime is something called ammonium hydroxide. Which is ammonia mixed with water. And it’s used to convert fatty beef “offcuts” into filler for ground beef.

The controversy started with McDonald’s. They were using pink slime in their burgers until recently. But agreed to stop.

Unlike the USDA. Which just bought 7 million pounds of the stuff to serve to kids in school cafeterias across the country.

Apparently, they’re going to give schools a choice whether or not they want “pink slime” in their lunches. But I wouldn’t take any chances if I were you. Send your kids or grandkids to school with a lunch that you’ve packed them. It’s the only way to be sure they’re getting a nutritious meal.

But what about the rest of the family? As I mentioned last week, reports are claiming that there’s pink slime in about 70 percent of the ground beef you buy in the supermarket. And they don’t have to disclose it on the label. So is there any way to avoid it?

I’m glad you asked. Because that brings me to the good news

There are a few EASY ways to make sure you never eat another bite of pink slime.

First of all, there are some big-chain supermarkets that appear to be safe sources for ground beef. Publix, Kroger, H-E-B, Whole Foods, and (believe it or not) Costco insist they never use pink slime in their ground beef.

But the best way to be certain that your meat is slime-free is to look for the USDA Organic stamp. Yes, organic meat can be more expensive. But your health–and your family’s safety–are well worth the extra cost.


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