'Pink Slime' Producers Defend Pink Slime

Here's the latest in the crazy "pink slime" saga: Beef Products, Inc., producer of lean beef from "fresh beef trimmings," has run a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal, along with an editorial talking about how the ammonia hydride and other additives are "necessary."

Here's a brief recap: Jamie Oliver first explored the use of leftover beef trimmings in McDonald's burgers, showing how the scraps are treated with ammonium hydroxide until it becomes a "pink slime." Then McDonald's dropped it. Then, The Daily reported that the USDA bought pink slime for school lunches. Then, supermarkets were found to carry it, too.

And most recently, the USDA announced that schools can choose slime-free lunches, while supermarket chain Safeway announced their pink-slime free meat section.

Naturally, the producers of pink slime aren't going down without a fight. The full-page ad, which may have cost BPI around $244,000 according to The Wall Street Journal's national General Rate Card, proclaims that Beef Products, Inc. is a company that does "walk their talk."

Nancy Donley, president of STOP Foodborne Illness, tells a heartbreaking story about her son and the necessity of ammonia hydride and food-grade antimicrobial sprays to prevent illnesses.

And of course, the president and CEO of BPI, Eldon Roth, writes a column about how the "misinformation campaign" has caused a "loss of over 3,000 jobs." Head on over to Eater for the full ad.