Pink Slime

[Norm Matthews]

I seldom grind my own hamburger but when I do, I like to do 50% chuck. 25% boneless short rib and 25% brisket. I use my KA attachment but if I was ever going to do a lot of grinding, I'd get a dedicated grinder like you see at the large sporting outfitters.

[scubadoo97]

also, could there be a chance that the package was irradiated also? why no ask. may of us would like to know.

I'd say there is a good chance it was irradiated to have that long of an exp. date. Even pink slime would go off in that time frame

Been a long time since I purchased ground meat

[pbear]

I believe Dcarch is correct. It would also explain the prominent use by date. interesting article about carbon monoxide in map packaging here.

https://www.uoguelph.ca/foodsafetynetwork/carbon-monoxide-and-meat

Yeah, but thats why I feel that type of meat is Pink Slime. Fresh ground meat from a store lasts 3 days max in the fridge. The heat sealed MAP packaged meat has a 3 week expiration date, which leads me to believe it is chock full of chemicals. And the texture is just odd. I mean even the freeze dried burgers from Nutrisystem have more texture.

Im sorry if im making a lot out of this but its creeping me out

Ordinary store-ground meat has a short safe storage window because it's not MAPed. What MAP adds is a barrier to proliferation of bacteria. The meat might include pink slime, or not, but extended shelf life for a MAP product tells you nothing either way. Consider this. You have doubtless noticed that vacuum-packed meats (i.e., muscle cuts, not ground) generally have much longer expiration dates than plain shrink-wrapped ones. The reason this works is that the lack of air inhibits almost all bacteria, except botulism, which is controlled by temperature. (FWIW, to my knowledge and I've read the CDC reports, MAP meat has never been implicated in a single case of botulism in the US.) MAP does the same thing, only instead of a vacuum it uses displacement of oxygen. Obviously, food is a very personal thing and if you're not comfortable with MAP, that's a valid reason to avoid it. Going the further step, though, of assuming extended shelf life = pink slime isn't warranted. Odd texture when cooked is whole 'nuther kettle of fish (so to speak), and I'll agree that suggests pink slime. But you can run into the same issue with shrink-wrapped or frozen. What I'm saying, I guess, is that extended shelf life is the wrong thing on which to focus. Rather, you should focus on what's going into the package.

[GlorifiedRice]

So I went and I asked one of the butchers there if it was ground in store and if it contained pink slime, she said it was NOT ground there, but was unaware if it had pink slime shed have to call the manager.

I snapped 2 pics

http://i.imgur.com/7JaIJ82.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/nVr1dTN.jpg

It says on bottom that its MAPed

[pbear]

Given the amount of press the issue has received, for the line butchers not to know whether their product includes pink slime is beyond lame. I'd find another source - one that can answer the question without hesitation - or, as discussed upthread, grind your own.