It contains a lot of proteins.
It is low in fat.
It has been treated to kill Salmonella and E. Coli.
It is tested before it is sent.
So what is that enthusiastic about?
Gerald Zirnstein, a former microbiologist at USDA's food safety and inspection service, calls the product "Pink Mucus" and "does not consider things like painted beef", according to a report last Wednesday evening in ABC News.
The meat industry, including manufacturers such as BEEF Products Inc.An MRR Enterprises, Inc.noem calledLean Finylinged Beef, ofTo fly- A much less catchy but more accurate name.
Where is lean fine structured beef from?
LFTB manufacturers start with beef.
The LFTB process begins by separating the majority of the fat from the beef.94-97% lean, according toBeef products incl.
But beef finishing is notorious for wearing pathogenic bacteria - especiallyE. Coli O157: H7 and its neighbor, Non-O157 STEC bacteria.So Beef Products Inc.A step for ammonia gas treatment developed to kill the microbes.
What is the deal with ammonia?
Ammonia is naturally formed in the body as a result of protein digestion of bacteria that live in the intestine.It is normal and common to find a quantity of ammonium hydroxide in meat.
Ammonium hydroxide has been used as an antimicrobial agent in meat for more than 40 years.That had this to say:
"Ammonia and ammonium ion are integrated components of normal metabolic processes and play an important role in human physiology. Although there have been no significant nutritional studies that have been specifically designed to determine the safety threshold for ammonium compounds such as food lines, various metabolic studies have been reported in theScientific literature in the available information about ammonium bicarbonate, ammonium carbonate, ammonium hydroxide, mono and dibasic ammonium fascation and ammonium sulfate that demonstrates or suggests that are now used, which are suspected of being suspectedNow that the future. "
Ammonium hydroxide is also included in USDA's list of safe and suitable ingredients(FSIS -The Directive 7120.1, revision 2; Last revision 4/12/10).pH -controlemiddel In saline solutions for meat productsand as an antimicrobial remedy againstBeef bodies (in hot boxes and keeping coolers)and foregone cattle cutter.ammonia -gas (anhydrous ammonia) is also used as an antimicrobial agent toLean Finylinged Beef.
Ammonia and ammonium hydroxide belong to various antimicrobial agents that can be used on beef and poultry without labeling disclosure.Instead of ingredients when they meet one of the following criteria:
(a) substances added during the treatment of a food, but are somehow removed from the food before they are packed in its finished form;
(b) substances added to a food during processing are converted into components that are usually found in the food and does not increase the amount of components that are naturally found in the food considerably;
(c) substances that are added to a food to their technical or functional effect in the treatment, but are present in the completed food at insignificant levels and have no technical or functional effect in that food.
Do we have to worry about E. coli and Salmonella in LFTB from BEEF Products Inc.?
Beef products incl.has taken over ammonium hydroxide treatment from its LFTB products to kill the pathogenic bacteria that may otherwise be present in the meat.A "test and hold"politicsIn addition to the various preventive sanitary and food safety programs.
Every box with LFTB samples and the samples are sent to independent third -party laboratories for analysis.Stec -bacteria - are first satisfied, when the satisfactory results are confirmed, the company allows its product to leave the building.
What do the experts say about LFTB?
I asked Dr.James Marsden (Regent's prominent professor in food safety and safety at Kansas State University) about his opinion.
"There is," he said in an e -mail answer, "all sorts of ingredients in foods that can be characterized as unpleasant when seen from context. When laymen the processes make cheese, wine preparation and production of the highest see quality building withGourmet processed meat is some of the phases of the process less than delicious. "
"I think the criticism of BPI products is based on quality perceptions, not on food security," Dr.Marsden.This production of safe food requires the treatment of interventions. "
In other words, it can have an image problem, but lean fine - exexed beef - alias 'pink mucus' - is safe to eat.
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"What's wrong with pink mucus?"Was originally sent on Efoodalert on 8 March 2012.
Recycled with permission.
