The publicity sparked an outcry against unlabeled addition of LFTB to ground beef, leading major supermarket chains such as Kroger, Safeway and Food Lion to stop selling it. McDonald’s also announced last month that it would stop using “pink slime.”
This week, “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” also tackled the topic. In a segment titled, “The Hunger Shame,” Stewart offered some suggestions, such as making burgers 15 percent smaller or just take the “pink slime” out — until he found out that 200 people at the factory that makes the product would lose their jobs.
“We're a pink slime-based economy!” Stewart quipped.
On Thursday, Brownback along with Rick Perry of Texas and Terry Branstad of Iowa visited the Beef Products Inc. processing plant in South Sioux City, Neb., in support of meat producers.
“As we were saying yesterday, ‘It’s beef, dude.’ That’s what this is. It’s beef,” he said.
Brownback gave host Larry Kudlow his explanation of what goes into the maligned meat.
“Larry, when you buy a steak, you probably trim the edges of it a little bit and you miss a little bit of the meat on it, and you throw that away,” he said. “What the industry has done is find a way to get that piece of meat back.”
Brownback also defended the chemicals used in the making of LFTB, saying they were not dangerous.
“It’s not at all, and it’s in a whole bunch of products,” he said. “It’s in beer. It’s in cheese.”
The governor said he would like to see purveyors rethink their opposition to the meat product.
“I think we contact them and we ask them, ‘Just please, please look at the actual facts of this case.’ This is a quality meat product. It is treated by ammonia or citric acid to prevent E. coli, which you don’t want in this product. And it’s been a safe product for 20 years.
“This is a safe, wholesome product that’s certified by USDA inspectors,” he said.
Brownback Avoids Endorsing Romney
