Retailers Defend Ammonia Treated Beef
Hamburger, Ground Beef, Ammonia
Sometimes a story breaks that’s so outrageous it’s hard to know where to begin telling it. In this case, the story involves beef treated with ammonia.
Apparently, a company called Beef Products, Inc., has been distributing the stuff for eight years. It shows up widely in fast-food hamburgers, in school lunches, and in supermarket ground beef. Nobody had been "beefing" about the meat until the New York Times broke a story last week claiming that government and industry records revealed dozens of incidents of E. coli and salmonella contamination.
But before even going to the contamination issue, which the press went all agog about, what about the presence of ammonia in beef? How did the USDA come to approve treating food with a substance that’s corrosive to the skin, eyes, and lungs — that literally can eat a hole through the gut?
It seems that back in 2000 or so, the executives at Beef Products Inc. felt frustrated that they couldn’t use the fatty waste in the beef for anything except pet food and cooking oil, since fat is so vulnerable to bacterial contamination and wouldn’t pass inspection. But then, someone at the company had a money-making brainstorm — if the fatty matter could be treated with large-amounts of ammonia, perhaps the contaminants would die and then the waste could be ground into a paste, added to hamburg, and sold for a far higher price. And sure enough, tests showed that the ammonia did seem to kill off E. coli and salmonella, and the company started marketing its ammonia-treated products far and wide. The FDA and USDA approved, and in fact, granted an exemption to Beef Products, Inc. so that the ammonia-infused ground beef coming out of that company didn’t have to go through regular inspections. Now, ammonia-treated beef ends up in 70 percent of all hamburger sold in the US, including meat sold at Burger King, McDonalds, through the school lunch program, and in numerous supermarket chains.
And so we come to the first two questions evoked by the scenario: what’s the impact of eating ammonia (concerns about eating beef aside), and how can the USDA justify suspending inspections of any meat product? As for the ammonia issue, the company says in its literature, "It is naturally present in all proteins. Ammonia is essential for life…" But according to the Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry,
- * Ammonia is highly irritating to the eyes and respiratory tract. Swelling and narrowing of the throat and bronchi, coughing, and an accumulation of fluid in the lungs can occur.
- * Ammonia causes rapid onset of a burning sensation in the eyes, nose, and throat, accompanied by lacrimation, rhinorrhea, and coughing. Upper airway swelling and pulmonary edema may lead to airway obstruction.
- * Prolonged skin contact (more than a few minutes) can cause pain and corrosive injury.
Apparently, no independent tests were run to assess safety risk before the product got the stamp of approval. Instead, the USDA relied on assurances from Beef Products, Inc., that they had run the stuff through testing and found it to be perfectly safe. A former USDA microbiologist, Carl S. Custer, called the processed beef "pink slime" and said, "I do not consider the stuff to be ground beef, and I consider allowing it in ground beef to be a form of fraudulent labeling." Then again, the FDA also allows the meat industry to dose its products with carbon monoxide to keep them looking nice and pink — even if a bit slimy — for an extra 20 days of shelf life. When you think about it, what’s a little ammonia added to the mix?
According to the company, the process of converting fatty waste to edible beef, "increases the naturally occurring levels of ammonium hydroxide a slight amount in order to assist in eliminating any harmful bacteria that could potentially be present in meats." However, the "slight amount" apparently was enough to lend the beef hitting the shelves a strong smell of ammonia — strong enough that numerous customers complained about the stink. Those customers were unaware that ammonia had been used in processing, and yet, the smell came through strong enough to indicate unhealthy levels of alkalinity.
In any event, the company decided to lower the ammonia content in order to allay customer concerns. And that brings us to the current situation, because although lowering the ammonia levels eliminated the stinky beef syndrome, it simultaneously failed to kill all the pathogens. School lunch officials kept testing the meat although the USDA didn’t require it, and found that in the years 2005 to 2009, Beef Products tested positive for salmonella 36 times per 1,000 tests, compared to only nine positive tests per 1,000 for other suppliers, including two contaminated 27,000 pound batches found this past August. Three instances of E. coli contamination also were found. The contaminated batches were disposed of before being served
The conversion of fatty waste into marketable meat has led to fat profits estimated at about $440 million annually for Beef Products Inc. And, the payoff extends to customers like the School Lunch Program, which says, "[The School Lunch program will continue to use BPI beef] despite some misgivings…because its price is substantially lower than ordinary meat trimmings, saving about $1 million a year." Likewise, other consumers of BPI products seem unmoved by the New York Times report: McDonald’s, Burger King, and Cargill all said they’ll continue to use the meat, pointing to the fact that no cases of illness have been directly tied to BPI products so far. Of course, had the School Lunch Program been a bit less vigilant in its testing, lots of kids would have been sickened and the situation would look quite different.
But Americans love their beef and it seems that short of an outbreak of disease, they’ll keep buying it. Abner Womack, a senior economist at the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute at the University of Missouri points out that "U.S. beef demand for beef has remained relatively constant even amid massive recalls, disease outbreaks and scares over mad cow disease. We tend to trust, more than any country in the world, the (government) food inspections." He failed to mention the fact that BPI products aren’t subject to those inspections.
There’s an old saying that goes, "There are two things you never want to watch: the making of sausage and the making of legislation." Maybe we should now add a third — ground beef.
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Jon Barron is a researcher, author, lecturer and founder of Baseline of Health Foundation. He has wrapped his mind around every natural therapy known to man and brought it together in a whole body package--delivering a whole body “system” program, a high-end line of nutraceutical products, and cutting-edge functional foods and drinks for consumers to enjoy.
Combining his knowledge and research with modern science, he continues to pioneer the alternative health industry and help consumers world-wide with his free health information and natural health newsletter. You can also download a free copy of his cutting-edge health book, “Lessons From The Miracle Doctors” by visiting his website.
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Comments
Detox Foot Pads
This is why I buy my meat and dairy products from a locally grown, organic farm. Grass fed beef only, please!
If you are in Minnesota, here is a good tip.. Kalisch Family Farms delivers locally to dropsites in your area. I volunteered my home to be a drop site in the north metro. I get organic raw butter, raw milk, organic eggs, my grassfed beef, it is just so tasty. Their website is http://jason2345.webs.com
Good luck!
Rebecca
http://www.purifyyourbody.com
Nancy Buscher
In a recent article Jon Barron, founder of Baseline of Health Foundation stated “The FDA and USDA approved, and in fact, granted an exemption to Beef Products, Inc. so that the ammonia-infused ground beef coming out of that company didn’t have to go through regular inspections. Now, ammonia-treated beef ends up in 70 percent of all hamburger sold in the US, including meat sold at Burger King, McDonalds, through the school lunch program, and in numerous supermarket chains” ( Barron)
Lester M. Crawford, Jr., DVM, Ph.D. is head of the FDA. Rather than complaining in blogs and to friends we might contact him with your concerns. How can we feed our children food that has been manipulated and purposely tainted? The Food & Drug Administration established to protect us from this kind of thing. Here is how you can reach them:
• 1-888-SAFEFOOD
• 1-888-723-3366
Consumers:
consumer@fda.gov
Industry:
industry@fda.gov
Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition
Food and Drug Administration
5100 Paint Branch Parkway
College Park, MD 20740
Kim in Minn
What food vendors DO NOT use BPI meat?
Karl
I just got in touch with the west coast fast food chain, In-n-Out burger, and they specifically stated they do NOT use ammonia-treated beef in their meat.
Detox Foot Pads
@Karl -- I LOVE in n out burger... wish they had them out here in MN. I miss California! I don't eat fast food very often, but maybe 1 or 2x per month I will.
Anonymous
As far as I'm concerned, they've done me a favor. I have used this as my excuse and motivation to stop eating beef altogether. I have also stopped eating pork for good measure. We have been told by the healthcare industry for years that red meat was not good for us. Pork has contributed to high blood pressure and other maladies for years and years. This has added up to two less things I have to worry about.
I don't like seafood, particularly sea bugs (shrimp, crabs, lobster and the like) so I have now reduced myself to eating only chicken (not that safe either), turkey and those few fishes that I do like. For me, the adjustment has been far easier than I ever expected. It has been nearly two months now and I feel noticably better than I used to. I don't want to turn into a full fledged vegetarian and I still use butter, milk, eggs and cheese, but I think I am on a track to better health.
It all boils down to the bottom line, you know. If it's profitable, the US govt. doesn't mind looking the other way, no matter what the food industry does. We have to take it upon ourselves to protect our own bodies. If I can take measures, anybody can 'cause I love hamburgers and pork chops, but, like I said, I hardly miss them at all and I am starting to feel great.
Good luck to all who read this - and God bless you.
Patpat
I have a few questions about this. First where are your references, how do I "trust" your information sources if you don't even show us the references. Secondly, obviously the ammonia "consequences" you have described referring to the high concentration ammonia solution or gas. This is highly unlikely to appear in food product with such high concentration.
SO first show us your references, and secondly don't mislead readers.
Anonymous
I have been using ground beef from our local Kroger store regularly for years without any real problems. I chalked the occasional "odd" smell of the beef up to different fat contents and possibly the source of the beef until this week. While browning the latest batch of ground beef, I noticed a VERY strong smell of ammonia. After doing a google search, I was appalled to find the information about the use of ammonia by BPI in so many hamburger products.
I find it sad that we now have to ask about ingredients and processes from our retailers to find out if they are healthy. I don't know what happened to the days when stores were more concerned about our health than their bottom lines, but I feel it is now up to consumers to get educated, and make our feelings known through our choices not to buy these products that are cheap but prone to hurt our health.
I have to wonder what these things are doing to our children as they develop....
Anonymous
I bought some bulk frozen hamburger patties at Wal-Mart, which I do from time to time. I swore I could smell ammonia in a couple patties that I had zapped in the microwave. That was days ago, and I just now got around to doing a Google search to check it out. Sure enough, there is ammonia used in the beef!
Do I worry about it? No. I can't taste it. It's in trace amounts. I have never been killed after years and years of eating these beef products, even cooked RARE! While we think of ammonia as something gross, it's actually harmless to us in trace amounts. Our bodies even produce it!!!
Now that I know the source, I will continue eating my cheap Wal-Mart hamburger patties. But I will always smell them after cooking just to see if they are still using it.
To the people that harp on all this stuff as being the cause of all our diseases... I just want to see your studies. I agree with PatPat above. Where's the proof? I think if people were dying left and right after eating this hamburger, maybe you'd have a case. But they aren't.
Just theorizing about negative consequences, and linking to pseudo-scientific web sites does not amount to proof that this is causing arcane illnesses. Ever listen to CoasttoCoastAM at night? These people will believe ANYTHING.
The reason I question it so much is because everyone that attempts to claim that autism is caused by this and colon cancer is caused by that and hormones are causing this and aspartame is causing that... they all claim that every disease is or can be caused by whatever their pet crusade is. If you want to be believed, you all need to get on the same page and quit saying that everything you dream up causes every one of our diseases!
Who are you supposed to believe, when the same radio show has alien abductess, "psychics", the goofball that believes NASA is lying to us about moon bases and ancient civilizations on Mars?
I hate to tell you this, but you guys are right up there with THEM! Sure, it would be nice to know on the label that this BPI stuff is being used in our hamburger, but I don't think it's an evil government conspiracy and I don't see people dropping dead left and right.
A whole whopping "dozens" of cases of E. coli or salmonella in millions of pounds of beef??? So that means you as an individual have about as much chance of running into that as you do of being struck by lightning. Probably LESS of a chance in reality. I think the actual number (from another article) was 8 E. coli and 24 salmonella cases. How nice of them not to give specific numbers. "DOZENS!"
And you guys trying to scare people from eating stuff with your colorful descriptions... "Pink slime." Well, that's what any muscle and fat tissue looks like when you grind it up. Big deal. Just keep your scary language to yourself and stick to the facts!!
Ground beef... it hasn't killed me yet, and I doubt it ever will.
;-)
Anonymous
What is this?
James C.
Anon, it's not pesudo-scientific websites calling this "pink slime" and "not beef," it's FDA scientists. If you don't trust this site, read it in the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/3...
Anonymous
We now go to a local meat market and watch them grind the ground meat for us. We saw it on Jamie Oliver - Food Nation about school children meals. It was disgusting what the slim looked like and they add it back to meat for ground meat. Ugh!
Anonymous
Does this include Australian McDonald's hamburgers as well?
How are the ones in Australia produced?
Sandra
Anonymous Mon, 05/16/2011 - 9:46am
is OBVIOUSLY an industry troll! He got every counter talking point in there. Centralizing actual science & factual information as nonsense is paid-to-comment troll's calling card. Being concerned about greed based companies putting TOXIC chemicals in our food supply is never anything to brush off lightly & does not equate to believing in aliens! The fact that more Americans are not appalled & this is not front page news shows how deeply the USDA & FDA are embedded with the food industry. Money over people us killing us.
Anonymous
I happened to lean over my skillet of WalMart hamburger and breathed in the stem coming off the meat. The ammonia smell burned my nose. I couldn't believe it until I googled "ammonia in hamburger" and discovered this is actually done by the meat packers on purpose. I will be buying my hamburger from a local farmer from now on.
Anonymous
I grew up eating beef that we raised on our own farm with no additives. We are just finishing up the last hamburger from our last beef we butchered and are out of the cattle business now. I too, will be buying my beef from a local producer, not the grocery stores. I haven't eaten hamburgers from McDonalds for years. I do eat Braum's hamburgers, because I believe they use their dairy cows for hamburger, after they've gotten past their prime milk production years. This is just gross.
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