Is there "pink slime" in your hamburger? If you're eating at McDonald's the answer is, not anymore. "Pink slime" may sound like a strange name for a cross between ketchup and mayo, but, in fact, it's a moniker for a scary-sounding chemical process used to create burger filler from previously inedible meat parts.

According to Food Safety News, McDonald's, along with other fast food chains such as Burger King and Taco Bell, has finally decided to stop the use of the ammoniated beef burger additive that had been dubbed "pink slime" — essentially fatty beef trimmings, otherwise inedible, that have been treated with ammonium hydroxide to kill bacteria. This process ultimately allows the beef trimmings to be turned into hamburger filler.

"Pink slime" was brought to America's attention in 2008 after the documentary Food, Inc introduced the public to previously masked issues with the industrial meat system. The New York Times also did an expose in 2009, linking the treated meat to outbreaks of E. coli and salmonella.

However, the biggest eye-opener was on Jamie Oliver's television show Food Revolution. Oliver publicly demonstrated the "pink slime" process to a live audience by placing inedible meat trimmings in a washing machine with ammonia cleaning product. He explained that Beef Products Inc., the company using this method, claims that it's safe. He added, "But everything about this process, to me, is about no respect for food, or people, or children, and I'd want to know when I'm eating this stuff. And I'd want it clearly labeled."

While Jamie Oliver was largely responsible for public outrage and protest against the slime, McDonald's made a statement that Oliver's Food Revolution did not affect their decision to "86" the slime. Todd Bacon, the senior director of U.S. Quality Systems and Supply Chain Management for McDonald's stated that the choice was an effort to "align our global beef raw material standards."

The Huffington Post reported that the "pink slime" process is actually USDA approved and apparently considered safe. In fact, in 2007, the USDA increased testing for ground beef, but exempted "pink slime" because the USDA believed that the ammonia treatment would kill any pathogen-causing bacteria. Problems ultimately arose when people started to get curious about what actually goes into their food and began to hear words like "inedible" and "ammonium hydroxide." Perhaps the question to be asking isn't whether or not the pink slime process is safe, but rather why previously inedible meat was being used in hamburgers at all?

What do you think: Are you happy that McDonald's and other chains are no longer using pink slime?

Zoe Bain 7-second life story: I was pre-med in college, until I realized that I could turn baking my problems away (instead of doing my chem homework) into a profession.

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