Pink Slime Now Increasing Beef Prices

Well, here's some not-so-good news: In the effort to cut out pink slime from beef products, prices for beef have gone up, and just in time for grilling season.

The good news? Reuters reports that smaller butchers selling high-quality meats are getting more customers due to the pink slime scare.

Even meat-slinging giant Cargill is reverting back to hand-carving meat out of the carcass trimmings to salvage lean bits to grind, rather than creating the "lean, finely textured beef" of sliminess.

Of course, this means that the top-grade lean beef cuts have historically high prices this month, while fattier trimmings (formerly used for pink slime) are cheaper than ever. According to government data, the average retail price for ground beef was $3.02 a pound in March, while the average price was just $2.24 two years ago. Now we're wondering what all this talk of meat glue will do to our summer cookouts.