Fatty slaughterhouse trimmings that previously could be used only for pet food or for making cooking oil are now being treated with an ammonia bath that produces a "pink slime" that is being used to make a treated product being sold as "hamburger" throughout the United States.
In a report that was difficult for some to read, the New York Times yesterday told the story of how a little known South Dakota company and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety & Inspection Service since 2001 have worked together to allow bacteria-killing ammonia to be used as a "processing agent" to make a mash that is allowed to be used in hamburger without labeling or public warnings.
Spokesmen for McDonald's and Burger King told the Washington Post the fast food hamburger joints plan to keep using the "pink slime" sold by Dakota Dunes, SD-based Beef Products Inc....
