Schools say beef safe

March 28, 2012

Catawba County school officials say students aren’t eating “pink slime” in their cafeterias.

Administrators and child nutrition directors say their school systems' ground beef does not contain any ammonia-treated beef, which has been scrutinized and called “Pink Slime” by a host of national media outlets and former food scientists in recent weeks.

“Pink slime,” which is a slang term for lean finely textured beef (LFTB) product, is a raw material approved and inspected by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) It is beef trimmings that are added to ground beef — in some cases with the chemical ammonia hydroxide, which is used as a processing aid to decrease the possible amount of pathogens in foods.

For more of this story, pick up the Thursday edition of The O-N-E.