Government Buys 'Pink Slime' For School Lunches

When McDonald's ditched their ammonium-treated "pink slime" in January, the world applauded, knowing their kids wouldn't be eating any more of the processed beef scraps. Thanks, Jamie Oliver!

Yet, it seems the USDA doesn't seem to care; they have continued to buy the "pink slime" for school lunches, according to The Daily. Officials have reportedly confirmed the purchase of 7 million pounds of the pink goo.

So what is this "pink slime"? Basically, producers take leftover meat scraps or lean beef trimmings (usually reserved for dog food, etc.), process it and clean it with ammonium hydroxide, and use it as filler for hamburger patties.

Jamie Oliver once said, "Basically, we're taking a product that would be sold at the cheapest form for dogs and after this process we can give it to humans."

Another nickname for the lean beef trimmings, coined by a retired microbiologist and former employee of the Food Safety Inspection Service, was "soylent pink." 

Of course, the USDA released a statement saying that all their ground beef products "meet the highest standard for food safety," but this still puts the organization in a sticky spot. We don't think the ammonia-treated "soylent pink" fits in with Obama's new nutritional lunch guidelines.