Hamburger chef Jamie Oliver has just won a battle against one of the largest fast food chains

[Katashi_itto]

Thank You to Bella Capozzi


Hamburger chef Jamie Oliver has just won a battle against one of the largest fast food chains in the world. After Oliver showed how McDonald’s hamburgers are made, the franchise announced it will change its recipe.

According to Oliver, the fatty parts of beef are “washed” in ammonium hydroxide and used in the filling of the burger. Before this process, according to the presenter, the food is deemed unfit for human consumption.

According to the chef and presenter, Jamie Oliver, who has undertaken a war against the fast food industry: “Basically, we’re taking a product that would be sold in the cheapest way for dogs, and after this process, is being given to human beings.”

Besides the low quality of the meat, the ammonium hydroxide is harmful to health. Oliver calls it “the pink slime process.”

“Why would any sensible human being put meat filled with ammonia in the mouths of their children?” asked the chef, who wages a war against the fast food industry.

In one of his initiatives, Oliver demonstrates to children how nuggets are made. After selecting the best parts of the chicken, the remains (fat, skin and internal organs) are processed for these fried foods.

The company, Arcos Dorados, the franchise manager in Latin America, said such a procedure is not practiced in the region. The same applies to the product in Ireland and the UK, where they use meat from local suppliers.

In the United States, Burger King and Taco Bell had already abandoned the use of ammonia in their products. The food industry uses ammonium hydroxide as an anti-microbial agent in meats, which has allowed McDonald’s to use otherwise “inedible meat.”

Even more disturbing is that because ammonium hydroxide is considered part of the “component in a production procedure” by the USDA, consumers may not know when the chemical is in their food.

On the official website of McDonald’s, the company claims that their meat is cheap because, while serving many people every day, they are able to buy from their suppliers at a lower price, and offer the best quality products.

In addition, the franchise denied that the decision to change the recipe is related to Jamie Oliver’s campaign. On the site, McDonald’s has admitted that they have abandoned the beef filler from its burger patties.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2092127/Jamie-Oliver-Victory-McDonalds-stops-using-pink-slime-burger-recipe.html

[Brickbat]

1. This appears to be garbage. ETA:

Or, at least, a rehash of an old Daily Mail article:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2092127/Jamie-Oliver-Victory-McDonalds-stops-using-pink-slime-burger-recipe.html

[Katashi_itto]

3. How is it garbage? Always like the civility shown on DU

[MADem]

5. You should delete this OP. This is ancient news, and your link is to a person's facebook page. nt

[Brickbat]

6. It's old and one-sided.

[demwing]

9. Is there a pro side

To poisoned pink slime passing as food?

[Major Nikon]

16. The idea of wasting protein doesn't really have a "pro side"

The end result is simply more unsustainable beef cows going to the slaughter. The ammonia gas used in the process is done for antimicrobial reasons. It's no more poison than the chlorine in tap water, actually less so when you consider that the ammonia used doesn't stay in the end product, unlike the chlorine in water which remains dissolved for hours after it comes out of the tap.

[demwing]

32. I think the answer is "Nope. There is no Pro side

to poisonous pink slime posing as food."

[RebelOne]

4. Might be a rehash of an old article,

but I think it should wake people up enough to not eat that junk food from fast food restaurants. I am a vegetarian, but in my pre-vegetarian days, I would not buy anything from McDonald's or Burger King. I preferred to cook my hamburgers at home because at least I knew what I was eating.

[Duckhunter935]

8. good for you

You have your choice without people here trying to change your food choices. Some of us are not vegetarians by choice and putting propaganda pieces up will not encourage me to change. Makes some feel good I guess.

[Rex]

15. nbc reported it back then too.

Garbage as well?

[TeamPooka]

2. your link leads to a private facebook page so there is no article to see.

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. Please use use links that work.

Facebook links do not work for most people.
You need to use primary sources, not what other people have posted on their FB accounts.

[tkmorris]

10. Some are being rather harsh, but...

I tend to agree that the post is problematic.

1) It's an old story. Over a year and a half actually.

2) It's a very biased look at what happened. I don't think Jamie Oliver had anything to do with any changes in McDonald's recipes. He seems to be a flibbertigibbet who makes noise then takes credit for things that have nothing to do with him.

3) You provided a better link, so that's good, but it does confirm that this "story" is quite dated.

4) The science is bad. I'm not terribly fond of over processed foods of any kind but this article is written to make it sound like a horribly disgusting and unsafe practice, much like the orange juice stories of recent memory, when in fact it's all fairly standard. If you're going to complain about food production using such methods you need to apply such criticisms fairly. There are similar foods all through your local supermarket; fast food chains are not particularly egregious in their practices. Furthermore changing these sorts of food production techniques may be a good idea but it WILL raise costs dramatically across the board, resulting in less affordable food and in many cases complete non-availibility of certain items.

I am all in favor of having a discussion about reforming some of our worst food production issues, but it seems impossible to have a balanced discussion that starts with such a horribly one-sided article.

[AZ Progressive]

12. So it's better to have unsafe and hazardous food thats cheaper than safe food that's more expensive?

That's pretty stupid IMO.

This just goes to show that they don't care if they slowly poison you, as long as they make more profit.

[Major Nikon]

20. How exactly is it unsafe?

I don't think even Oliver went that far.

[kestrel91316]

19. It IS a disgusting practice. When people eat hamburgers they expect ground up MUSCLE MEAT and

not salvaged trimmings without a speck of muscle in them.

It's ok to feed this to dogs. If it were properly labeled and not snuck into fast food to feed to unsuspecting consumers I would be ok with it for human consumption, but you'd have to practically give it away.

[Major Nikon]

28. What do people expect when they eat a hot dog?

It's not as if we are talking about health food.

A big mac, fries, and a coke has somewhere around 1200-1500 calories depending on how big you want to supersize and a large portion of that comes from fat and simple carbs. People should be a lot more concerned about that.

[muriel_volestrangler]

29. Olvier has achieved a great deal - far from a 'flibbertigibbet'

Oliver began a campaign to improve the standard of Britain’s school meals. Public awareness was raised and subsequently the British Government pledged to spend £280m on school dinners (spread over three years). Tony Blair acknowledged that this was a result of Oliver's campaign. Following the success of the campaign, Oliver was named "Most Inspiring Political Figure of 2005" in the Channel 4 Political Awards 2006.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Oliver

[jberryhill]

30. But that so-called "orange juice" is flavored with chemicals from oranges

[Make7]

11. Has just won? January 2012?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002234087

[Historic NY]

13. "Special orders of oooze don't upset us, we use special sauce too".

[Rex]

14. Here ya go.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/01/31/10282876-mcdonalds-drops-use-of-gooey-ammonia-based-pink-slime-in-hamburger-meat?lite

By M. Alex Johnson, Staff Writer, NBC News
McDonald's confirmed that it has eliminated the use of ammonium hydroxide — an ingredient in fertilizers, household cleaners and some roll-your-own explosives — in its hamburger meat.

The company denied that its decision was influenced by a months-long campaign by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver to get ammonium-hydroxide-treated meats like chicken and beef out of the U.S. food supply. But it acknowledged this week that it had stopped using the unappetizing pink goo — made from treating otherwise inedible scrap meat with the chemical — several months ago.

Besides being used as a household cleaner and in fertilizers, the compound releases flammable vapors, and with the addition of certain acids, it can be turned into ammonium nitrate, a common component in homemade bombs. It's also widely used in the food industry as an anti-microbial agent in meats and as a leavener in bread and cake products. It's regulated by the U.S. Agriculture Department, which classifies it as "generally recognized as safe."

Looks like you are right, don't mind the people in here that hate the daily mail. Let us see if the hate nbc news too.

[Katashi_itto]

21. thanks :)

[Rex]

23. NP. The issue with it being a year old...really who cares!?

This is GD, NOT LBN...thanks for bring it back up.

[Major Nikon]

22. There was already more ammonia used in the production of the rest of the sandwich

Food grade ammonium hydroxide is FDA approved and has been used throughout the food industry and has been for decades.

Just sayin'

[Rex]

24. Really where did you get that data from?

Just curious'

[Major Nikon]

25. Google would be a good place to start if you actually are curious

http://www.foodinsight.org/Resources/Detail.aspx?topic=Questions_and_Answers_about_Ammonium_Hydroxide_Use_in_food_production

[Rex]

26. Interesting what you linked to.

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/03/the-lunch-tray-responds-to-beef-industry-defenses-of-pink-slime/#.Uf7W4JLbObo

[Major Nikon]

27. That wasn't the site I linked

If you want other links, you can go here and research the WHO's standards on ammonium hydroxide for a variety of food products.

http://www.codexalimentarius.net/gsfaonline/additives/details.html?id=380

Or you can read what federal regulations has to say about it.

http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRSearch.cfm?fr=184.1139

[Gin]

17. The date on the article is todays date...

No more mc donalds for me.

[Duckhunter935]

18. more for me

and the story was from early 2012

[marions ghost]

31. Thank you Jamie Oliver

He has done amazing work in the area of nutrition and less adulterated food, especially for children.

I think he has changed the conversation.

Jamie

[corkhead]

33. We are going to have to rely on the "invisible hand of the marketplace" to solve this problem

Don't expect any action from our government on this

Because I doubt that a Big Mac a part of this guy's diet.