When Jamie Oliver found out that McDonald's restaurants in the U.S. were using ammonium hydroxide (in the form of pink slime) to fill burger patties, he started working to put a stop to it. On his television show, Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, the celebrity chef called out McDonald's for using the additive in their food.
"Imagine how happy an accountant is, you just turned dog food into what can potentially be your kids' food," Oliver said.
Ammonium hydroxide is typically used as a cleaning agent in household products. When it comes to the use of beef, the additive is used to clean "beef trimmings" that are usually used in dog food so that they can be used in burgers.
McDonald's has since discontinued use of said beef, but say it had nothing to do with Oliver.
"The decision to remove BPI (Beef Products Inc.) products from the McDonald's system was not related to any particular event but rather to support our effort to align our global beef raw material standards," the company said in a statement. "McDonald's complies with all government requirements and food safety regulations. Furthermore, we have our own food safety measures and standards in place throughout the entire supply chain to ensure that we serve safe, high quality food to every customer, every time they visit our restaurants."
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Comments
January 28, 2012
This story is complete bollocks.
Ammonium hydroxide is not a pink slime, it's a colorless gas, NH3, dissolved in water, H20, producing NH4+ ions and hydroxyl ions. It occurs naturally in all meats, and is a natural byproduct of metabolism. I hate it when science-ignorant celebrities get excited about things they don't understand.
January 29, 2012
take your point Weaselspleen, the concern is also using the parts of the animal that is not for human consumption as it carries salmonella and other harmful bacteria that are potentially deadly....so great to have people like Jamie Oliver reporting such food processing methods....So however or whatever it takes to raise public awareness id a positive in my opinion....