Food For Thought

I rarely eat fast food and whenever I do, I usually end up regretting my choice.  After reading this article:  Safety of Beef Processing Method is Questioned in the New York Times last week, I think I now know why.

According to the article, the company, Beef Products Inc has found a use for the fatty trimmings that were "once relegated to pet food and cooking oil".  By processing the "beef" product (notice my quotation marks) with ammonia, they have turned these fatty trimmings into a more profitable product.  Following ammonia treatment, the fatty trimmings are packaged as "a mashlike substance frozen into blocks or chips".  This is then sold and used as a component in ground beef for hamburgers.  These hamburgers are sold to consumers in grocery stores and at fast food chains such as Burger King and McDonalds, as well as prisons and schools, through federal lunch programs.  The word ammonia is never listed, as "[f]ederal officials agreed to the company's request that the ammonia be classified as a 'processing agent' and not an ingredient that would be listed on labels".

Why ammonia?

The treatment of ammonia raises the pH of the "beef" product from a natural level of 6, up to a pH of 10.  At this high pH level the E. coli and samonella are killed.  However, the food is considered unpalatable and gives off the nice aroma of ammonia which has been described as "pungent".  The companies response has been to reduce the amount of ammonia used in treatment, which lowers the pH but then reduces the effectiveness of killing the nasty pathogens and making contamination of E. coli and samonella more likely.

While the trade off between palatability and food safety seems to be the main issue with the company, the food industry, and the federal departments that are supposed to regulate the industry.  I'm more concerned with the fact that we are eating "food" that was previously considered inedible and only good for oil or pet food.  I'm concerned with the lack of labeling that doesn't list ammonia, even if it is considered a processing agent.  This seems to be analogous to decaffeinated coffee in which the caffeine can be removed from coffee beans by with the Swiss Water Process, or with chemicals, such as methylene chloride, or ethyl acetate.  As a consumer I want to know whether the caffeine has been extracted by a solvent, like water, or with solvents like methylene chloride or ethyl acetate.  

It is rather unsettling to realize how much we are sacrificing our health for convenience and how much we as consumers are being sacrificed for the sake of profit for the companies who sell these products.  It bothers me to know that we have little awareness of the process in preparing any of the food we eat.  With decisions being made, such as the decision to not include ammonia on any labeling, it makes me wonder what else goes on.  After reading this article, its no wonder I feel more than a tad bit queasy after eating at any fast food joint.

~b~