No 'Pink Slime' In Amherst Schools

Your kids lunches are safe from the boneless lean beef trimmings, or “pink slime, that has been making headlines across the nation.

SAU #39 Food Service Director Danielle Collins said that the school district, which includes Amherst and Mont Vernon, does not use any of the slime in its meat products. 

Collins said that she is a member of a buying group that has access to reasonably priced ground beef without additives. Handling raw products requires a more well-developed staff, but she said that all of her employees are properly trained to bring a better product to students.

“We buy a lot more raw product than most other places,” said Collins. “We want to cook from scratch because it enables us to control the ingredients and, in the end, I know what we are serving our kids is whole and sound.”

Pink slime is a mixture meat trimmings that are forcefully removed from bones, and then exposed to ammonia gas in order to kill the bacteria such as E. Coli. The result is a cheap product that can be mixed in with beef products.

McDonalds announced in January that they would cease using the slime, but The Daily recently reported that the USDA was buying 7 million pounds of it for the National School Lunch Program.

The USDA announced last week that it would give schools in the NSLP the option to opt out of producers with the treated beef mixture, in response to public outcry and petitions.

"Due to customer demand, the department will be adjusting procurement specifications for the next school year so schools can have additional options in procuring ground beef products. USDA will provide schools with a choice to order product either with or without Lean Finely Textured Beef," the USDA wrote. (See full USDA statement here).

They still contend that the beef trimmings are "safe, nutritious and affordable" and has been used since the early 1990s. The maximum percentage of the trimmings than can be added to a single serving of NSLP beef product is 15 percent, according to the USDA.

Collins said that the pink slime may not be as dangerous as people believe it to be, but insists that all overly-processed foods have too many additives that degrade their nutritional value.

“Anything you add to your food that is not ‘food’ is potentially dangerous,” she said.

However, she thinks it is great for this information to be public and make the public more aware of what is going in their food. She added that parents should really worry about other additives, such as artificial sweeteners that are “chemical garbage.” 

We recently about the school district’s push for natural, wholesome foods over processed choices. Recipes “from scratch” and highly nutritious ingredients have already been implemented into the student meal program.

“We have to become food scientists to ensure everything that comes into our schools is healthy and top choice,” said Collins.