So, since we're on the topic of food politics, have you guys heard about the pink slime contained in McDonald's hamburgers? I know its kind of an old topic, but I'm still surprised by it. Personally, I LOVE McDonald's, but when I saw this it didn't really affect me as much as it should have. I just swept it off and chose to ignore the fact that there was something unknown going into the processed meat I was eating, but at the time, I truly didn't care. Did it affect any of you or make an impact on whether you ate McDonald's or not?
Now that I think of it, even if I did make a choice to stop eating it because of that, I still would have bought McDonald's a couple of times, not only because I like the McChicken Sandwiches, but because when my family is on the rush, McDonald's is the go to place while on the road. I know its not the healthiest choice, but when its fast and cheap, there's no going wrong with it, other than your health. But I never really paid too much attention to the politics behind food until we started studying this unit.
Anyways, I recently looked into the whole Pink Slime theory and actually discovered a lot of things about it that I didn't know before. According to ABC News, the pink slime is actually boneless lean beef trimming, which is pretty much all the meat left over after all the good cuts are taken to be sold as beef. The reason it looks like pink slime is because it is treated with ammonium hydroxide to get rid of bacteria in the meat. Ammonium hydroxide may sound familiar, because it was also mentioned in Food Inc. It is what is used on crops, such as corn, to get rid of bacteria like E. Coli. So, although it may be disgusting and questionable, this "pink slime" has been used in their burgers and haven't caused any issues yet. But, McDonald's has publicly said that they will stop producing the boneless lean beef trimmings in their food, coincidentally right after the rumor of the "pink slime" in the food was brought to the public eye on the show Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution.
No matter what the reasoning behind McDonald's stopping the use of pink slime was, it has been removed as an ingredient and is no longer produced in their meats. But what do you think about this whole issue? How is it that a huge corporation such as McDonald's could go so long without anyone every discovering what this ingredient in our food was? The fast food industry has a lot of power in this economy, yet we don't' look into it as much as I think we should.
OMG! I actually found out about this like 2 weeks ago and after reading the article I was so grossed by it and it made me realize how unhealthy we eat. I found this McDonald's issue really interesting too and it amazes me because after I found out about the pink slime I continue to get food from McDonald's. I know a lot of people hate McDonald's but to be honest their chicken nuggets are the best. I think McDonald's kind of got away with this for a long because people didn't care about how their food was prepared, they only cared about satisfying their hunger. Anyways I'm glad they are going to stop putting those things on their food. I wonder if it will change the taste of the food though.
ReplyDeleteIsabella, I also feel like this whole issue isn't affecting me as much as it should be doing. I think I still will continue to eat McDonald's hamburgers and products if I wanted to do so. Although it makes me wonder what else do the other fast food chains use for their meat? Do they use pink slime or something different? Plus I do agree with Ana Mae when it comes to people not caring how their food is prepared at times because they just want to satisfy their hunger. As you mentioned, your family eats McDonald's because it is fast and cheap. People don't bother to look into the methods of how their food is processed because they just want to feel full and satisfied and McDonald's is something fast and easy to get. It is a great thing that McDonald's has taken away the pink slime as an ingredient. Hopefully the government is looking into other fast food chains and making sure they are using proper meat in our meals.
ReplyDeletei remember hearing about this a while ago and i dint believe it at first. I thought at first that McDonalds would never be able to that into their food. But now it makes sense abut what it is and i do believe it. Even when i saw the pictures and heard all of these things it still didn't stop me from eating McDonalds. Some people will never eat McDonalds anymore because of this. I mean if it was really that harmful to us they would not be able to sell it, so as long as it still tastes good i guess there is no harm in eating it.
ReplyDeleteThis is actually the first time I have heard of it and it is pretty disgusting. I agree with you that we should have people keep a closer eye on restaurants. It is probably no only McDonald out there doing weird things in the kitchen. It is something we do not like to think about. We just eat the food and don't really care what is inside or how it was made or even if its healthy. This food topic has made me think of what I have been eating lately. I personally don't eat at McDonald's that much but now I'm going to eat there even less.
ReplyDeleteThis is actually what I am doing my research paper on and it is pretty nasty. I stopped eating McDonald's and all those other food chains that us pink slime about 6 months ago. When i watched the videos and read up on pink slime, giving up those places might have been one of the best decisions of my life. Hearing these things about the food I put in my stomach personally effects me a lot. If I am informed that i am eating false meat or something not healthy for my body, I am going to stop eating it plain and simple. I have a weak stomach so when I did used to eat McDonald's, my stomach couldn't handle that fake meat half the time anyways ahahaha.
ReplyDeleteThis is my first time hearing about the "pink slime" in McDonald's and it does sound pretty disgusting, but I agree with you when you said that it didn't change the matter of you eating at McDonald's or not. I'm reading this topic on "pink slime" while I'm eating a Big Mac and it still doesn't change the fact on how much I like to eat McDonald's. To me this is the same on how we know that the animals we eat are being tortured, but we still enjoy their flavor. We know how unhealthy most of the food we eat is but we still choose to eat it. I don't know though, it's just my opinion. Maybe if I gave the "pink slime" more research i would probably be gagging instead of eating at McDonald's.
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