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"Following a request from several meat producers, the USDA has decided to allow companies to list lean finely textured beef (LFTB), known more widely as &amp;quot;pink slime,&amp;quot; as an ingredient on packaging. According to MSNBC, Cargill Inc. spokesman Mike Martin said, &amp;quot;Voluntary labeling is one of the options we are looking at, although no final decision has been made to do this. We will also be working with our customers to gather their input to collectively reach mutually acceptable options.&amp;quot; With &amp;quot;pink slime&amp;quot; back in the spotlight and consumers continuing to argue for more transparency about the product, we decided to take a look at how &amp;quot;pink slime&amp;quot; was born and came to be such a well-known (and despised) ingredient. Here&amp;#039;s a look at some of the events that have transpired since 2001. A Pink Slime Timeline: 2001: Pink Slime is Born in South Dakota Beef Products Inc., interested in expanding its business by using fatty beef trimmings that normally would go to waste or to pet food, decided to make use of the scraps in a product for consumers. But they had one hurdle, according to the New York Times: those trimmings were susceptible to E. coli contamination. After a lot of research, they discovered a method to remove E. coli from its hamburgers. How? By treating the meat with an ammonia process that killed the deadly bacteria as well as salmonella. 2002: U.S. Department of Agriculture Microbiologist Coins the Term &amp;quot;Pink Slime&amp;quot; One year later, a government scientist named Gerald Zirnstein sent what he thought was a private email to another colleague terming the chemically-treated meat scrap and fatty beef products, &amp;quot;pink slime.&amp;quot; Reuters recently reported that the private email eventually went public and the term stuck, at least with consumer groups. The industry term &amp;quot;lean finely textured beef,&amp;quot; or LFTB, would soon fall by the wayside. 2007: Beef Products Inc. Meat Exempted from Routine Testing The ammonia treatment proved so successful for removing bacteria that even the USDA was impressed \u2014 so impressed that they decided to exempt Beef Products Inc. from routine meat inspections. Instead, &amp;quot;pink slime&amp;quot; got the government stamp of approval and became a regular ingredient in fast-food hamburgers at McDonald&amp;#039;s, Burger King, and the like. 2008: Food Inc. Brings &amp;quot;Pink Slime&amp;quot; Into the Limelight The much talked about documentary Food Inc. shed light \u2014 more like a huge, bright spotlight \u2014 on the use of &amp;quot;pink slime&amp;quot; in foods. 2008: Federal School Lunch Program Uses Estimated 5.5 Million Pounds of Processed Beef Ammonia-treated beef gained tremendous ground in institutions, including the Federal School Lunch Program. But in July 2009, officials temporarily banned the product, reported the New York Times, due to salmonella discovered in a Beef Products, Inc. Kansas facility. Eventually that led to the revocation of Beef Products exemption from routine inspection. The tides began to turn for the meat suppliers. December 2009: Safety of Beef Processing Method Called Into Question Although there were consumer advocates fighting against &amp;quot;pink slime&amp;quot; for years, it started making even more headlines in national papers in 2009, when the New York Times and other major news outlets called into question the safety of the product. April 2011: Jamie Oliver Reveals Another Kind of Slime Longtime healthy food advocate, chef Jamie Oliver, showed how another &amp;quot;pink slime&amp;quot; is made from chicken bits on his ABC reality program, Jamie&amp;#039;s Food Revolution. Though the two are a different breed, the information ignited consumer unease. Photos of that same slime taken at a manufacturing plant that supplies fast-food restaurants the chicken product went viral, sending the blogosphere into a tizzy. More From Delish: Can You Guess What Fast-Food Treat This Is? January 2012: Fast-Food Chains Drop &amp;quot;Pink Slime&amp;quot; McDonald&amp;#039;s, Burger King, and Taco Bell decide to rid their restaurants of the beef burger additive. March Meat Madness March 6, 2012: USDA Still Purchasing &amp;quot;Pink Slime&amp;quot; For Schools At the beginning of March, we reported the news that the National School Lunch Program would continue serving &amp;quot;pink slime&amp;quot; in meals. March 12, 2012: &amp;quot;Pink Slime&amp;quot; Finds Food Safety Advocates to Defend The Meat While food safety advocates defend the meat, journalists investigate whether it really is safe to eat. March 16, 2012: &amp;quot;Pink Slime&amp;quot; Dropped From Schools After much parental outcry, schools in Washington, D.C., removed &amp;quot;pink slime&amp;quot; from the school lunch offerings, reported NPR. More schools followed. March 20, 2012: Jamie Oliver&amp;#039;s Stop &amp;quot;Pink Slime&amp;quot; Petition Launches Jamie Oliver jumps back into headlines with his online petition to stop pink slime: stoppinkslime.org March 21, 2012: Supermarket Chains Pull &amp;quot;Pink Slime&amp;quot; From Shelves While the focus of the controversy had been on fast-food chains and schools, grocery stores also sell meat products with &amp;quot;pink slime.&amp;quot; Two of the country&amp;#039;s biggest supermarket chains, Safeway and Kroger, first decided to drop products that contain LFTB. Then Food Lion, Supervalu, and Stop and Shop all promised to rid their shelves of the product by March 22, 2012. March 26, 2012: American Meat Institute President Speaks Out President J. Patrick Boyle fights back against ABC World News with this statement to the press: &amp;quot;Your relentless coverage and uninformed criticism of a safe and wholesome beef product has now delivered a hook for yet another nightly news broadcast.&amp;quot; He went on to say the media frenzy has caused hundreds of plant processors to lose their jobs. Boyle reiterates the industry stance: &amp;quot;Lean finely textured beef is a safe and nutritious beef product that has been used for two decades. It is produced according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) rules and under USDA inspection. USDA&amp;#039;s confidence in the product is evidenced by the fact that it buys the product for its feeding programs. Its safety and wholesomeness is further bolstered by support from leaders in the consumer and food safety communities.&amp;quot; March 27, 2012: LFTB Makers Halt Production With fast-food chains, massive supermarket retailers, and schools all dropping the products, manufacturers are forced to temporarily suspend production at a few key processing plants. New York City schools also drop the slime. Despite production slowing, beef containing the controversial trimmings is still out there. March 27, 2012: Beef Products Inc. to Launch Media Campaign of Their Own The American Meat Institute and &amp;quot;pink slime&amp;quot;-producing companies continue to speak out against the backlash, arguing that the controversy is just a case of media gone wild. In addition, Beef Products Inc. announces plans to fight back with its own educational ad campaign. March 30, 2012: Former Republican Presidential Candidate Rick Perry Stands Behind the Beef Industry The Los Angeles Times reported that Texas Governor and former presidential hopeful Rick Perry, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback, and Iowa Governor Terry Branstad joined forces to clear up the controversy surrounding the nation&amp;#039;s meat by visiting Beef Product Inc.&amp;#039;s processing plant in South Sioux City, Nebraska. Perry told reporters, &amp;quot;Let&amp;#039;s call this product what it is. And let pink slime become a term of the past.&amp;quot; April 2, 2012: &amp;quot;Pink Slime&amp;quot; Company Goes Belly Up After fast-food giants, major grocers, schools, and other institutions dropped the meat, Business Week reports, AFA, one of the major manufacturers of LFTB, filed for bankruptcy. Where do you stand on the &amp;quot;pink slime&amp;quot; issue? Do you think people are overreacting? Do you mind eating the ingredient? "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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