'Pink slime' plant closes; 200 lose jobs
Beef Products Inc. has lost, at least temporarily, the public-opinion battle over what critics call “pink slime,” and that also meant more than 200 people at the company’s Amarillo plant lost their jobs Monday.
“While lean finely textured beef was given a catchy and clever nickname in ‘pink slime,’ the impact of alarming broadcasts about this safe and wholesome beef product by Jamie Oliver, ABC News and others are no joke to those families that are now out of work,” said American Meat Institute President J. Patrick Boyle in a written statement.
Losing 200 jobs is an abrupt surprise.
“That’s huge for Amarillo and the (Texas) Panhandle,” said Mollie Barney, business services coordinator for Workforce Solutions in Amarillo. “We have reached out and hope they let us help with the transition for these employees.”
http://amarillo.com/news/local-news/2012-03-26/pink-slime-plant-closes-200-lose-jobs
= new reply since forum marked as read
I'm sorry for their job loss too. I can only hope the workers find jobs in another industry/sector that is more sustainable and less toxic for them and for all humans who eat food.
Working in the slime industry would be comparable to cleaning up nuclear waste in the sense that if we didn't use nukes we wouldn't have waste to clean up. We should not be eating slime, so these workers have to understand it was a dead end job. No pun intended. 
Gov. Perry defends ‘pink slime’
Gov. Rick Perry is defending so-called “pink slime” in a statement issued in conjunction with Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman and South Dakota Lt. Gov. Matt Michels (on behalf of South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard, who’s on a trade mission to China).
Their statement says that the “lean, finely textured beef is a safe, nutritious product that is backed by sound science.”
Here’s how the AP describes the produce, nicknamed pink slime: “The lower-cost ingredient is made from fatty bits of meat left over from other cuts. The bits are heated and spun to remove most of the fat. The lean mix then is compressed into blocks for use in ground meat. The product is exposed to ammonium hydroxide gas to kill bacteria, such as E. coli and salmonella.”
Here’s the statement from the coalition including Perry:
“Our states proudly produce food for the country and the world – and we do so with the highest commitment toward product safety. Lean, finely textured beef is a safe, nutritious product that is backed by sound science. It is unfortunate when inaccurate information causes an unnecessary panic among consumers.
Of course he would!
If Perry thinks it's so good he should show us by eating it - everyday!
It's whats for dinner.
Officials: 'Pink slime' controversy could hurt Texas beef industry
Gov. Rick Perry and Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples joined officials from other beef-producing states Thursday to tour a Nebraska plant that makes the meat product disparagingly called "pink slime" and to defend the food item that has been part of the American diet for 20 years.
After the tour of the Beef Products Inc. facility in South Sioux City, Neb., officials said they felt it was important to counter myths and misconceptions about "lean finely textured beef" — the official term for the product — that led to the suspension of some meat processing operations — and the 650 jobs that go with them — at plants in Amarillo; Garden City, Kan.; and Waterloo, Iowa.
Texas officials also said they were concerned about the effects criticism of the product could have on the Texas beef industry, as well as the possibility of rising beef prices.
"As governors, we owe it to the people of our states and their employers to ensure no industry succumbs to misinformation and false reports, many driven by ideological opponents with a clear agenda," Perry said in a statement. "Members of the media owe it to consumers to report the facts, so let's call this product what it is and make ‘pink slime' a term of the past."
Food bloggers, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver and hundreds of news reports have drawn attention to the product, which is created by putting leftover cuts of meat into a centrifuge to spin off fat and make a lean meat product. The attention from critics has led a number of grocers, such as Safeway Inc., which owns Randalls in Texas, to say it will stop selling the product. H-E-B and Whole Foods previously said they do not use the product.
So I sitll want to see Perry sit down an eat a bowl of pink slime aka "lean finely textured beef" to show us how safe it is. Come on Perry lets see you feed it to your kids.
Or at least he pretended to be eating it.
I'd like to have proof it really had pink slime in the burger.
