That changed when events or people shined a light on these
ingredients and branded them with a decidedly negative, or even
repulsive, label. The most recent case is an ingredient that the
food industry euphemistically calls “lean finely textured beef.”
Ten years ago, a USDA microbiologist, Gerald Zirnstein, referred
to this ingredient as “pink slime” in a private email to
colleagues. What is “pink slime” and how is it made? Pink slime
is made from “throw-away” beef trimmings that are heated and
spun in a centrifuge to separate out the fat. The “lean meat”
remains are treated with ammonium hydroxide to kill any harmful
bacteria (a process used in the processing of many food products
to make them safer). It is then flash frozen and pressed into
usable shape for further processing into ground beef and other
meat products. Any way you slice it, this all sounds really bad.
What started the viral negative word-of-mouth pyramid? According
to an Ad Age post by E.J. Shultz, in April of 2011, celebrity
chef Jamie Olive