Governors dig in to 'pink slime' issue
Governors dig in to 'pink slime' issue_2
<p>Texas Gov. Rick Perry eats a hamburger which contains the beef product known as pink slime or lean finely textured beef following a news conference in South Sioux City, Neb., Thursday. Earlier, the governors of Nebraska and South Dakota toured the Beef Products Inc. plant where the product is made to show their support for the company and the several thousand jobs it creates in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota and Texas.</p>
SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Neb. (AP) - Governors of three states got up close with "pink slime" Thursday, touching and examining treated beef at a plant and eating hamburgers made with it in a bid to persuade grossed-out consumers and grocery stores the product is safe to consume.
The three governors and two lieutenant governors spent about a half hour learning about the process of creating finely-textured lean beef in a tour of the main plant that makes the product, then blasted the media for scaring consumers with a moniker coined by critics.
"If you called it finely textured lean beef, would we be here?" asked Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback. Several other leaders echoed his comments as they tried to smooth over consumer concerns about the product.
Beef Products, the main producer of the cheap lean beef made from fatty bits of meat left over from other cuts, has drawn scrutiny over concerns about the ammonium hydroxide it treats meat with to change the beef's acidity and kill bacteria. The company suspended operations at plants in Texas, Kansas and Iowa this week, affecting 650 jobs, but defends its product as safe.
The politicians who toured the plant - Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Brownback, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, Nebraska Lt. Gov. Rick Sheehy and South Dakota Lt. Gov. Matt Michels- all agree with the industry view that the beef has been unfairly maligned and mislabeled and issued a joint statement earlier saying the product is safe.
The officials spent about 20 minutes going over the production process in a separate room at the plant with Craig Letch, the company's director of quality assurance, viewing and handling more than a dozen slabs of raw meat and the processed, finished product laid out on cutting boards on a round wooden table.
The officials asked about the added ammonia, which Letch said is used as an extra safety precaution against E. Coli.
"What we're doing with ammonium hydroxide is directly targeting those specific microorganisms that could affect human health. It is nothing more than something to ensure consumer safety," Letch said as the politicians bent over the raw cuts of beef.
Afterward, Perry, Branstad and others ate burgers made from the plant's meat at a news conference.
"It's lean. It's good. It's nutritious," Branstad said as he polished off a patty, sans bun.