January 27, 2012 - Food Safety News reported recently that fast-food giants McDonald's, Taco Bell and Burger King in the United States will stop using beef that is treated with ammonium hydroxide following a backlash over the last couple of years.
The chains have all agreed to stop sourcing beef from Beef Products Inc., which uses a mixture of ammonium hydroxide to kill bacteria in the meat.
The treated beef product - dubbed "pink slime" in many media reports - gained mainstream media attention last year after celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, on his ABC TV show "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution", criticized the product. According to Food Safety News, an estimated five million viewers saw the program.
In a statement issued to the National Post, Todd Bacon, senior director of quality systems at McDonald's USA, says the chain's decision to make the change had nothing to do with the attention from Oliver's show.
A McDonald's Canada spokesperson told the National Post that McDonald's burgers sold in Canada have never contained beef fillers from Beef Products Inc. McDonald's Canada gets its meat from Cargill, which the spokesperson said only contains 100 per cent beef, salt and pepper. The use of ammonia in ground beef has not been approved for use in packing plants by Health Canada.
According to the Food Safety News report, BPI's process, progressive food safety policies, and state-of-the art system have received numerous food safety awards and the company has never been linked to a foodborne illness.
According to BPI's website, ammonium hydroxide is naturally found in beef and used in the processing of numerous foods. The company notes the system it uses results in a "dramatic reduction in the number of potential pathogens that may be present in foods, such as E. coli O157:H7."
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