Your source for Healthy and Affordable Beef
Pink Slime…Fact or Myth?
As you have probably seen in the news over the past several days a beef product called “Lean Finely Textured Beef” has been “pink slimed” in the media, particularly ABC News, which ran segments Wednesday, Thursday and Friday on the evening news. The ABC News segments have driven an enormous amount of social media coverage in prominent blogs and Twitter (#pinkslime). We need your help NOW to put an end to the pink slime scare, which has no basis in science.
Lean finely textured beef (LFTB) is beef that is a category of beef products that uses high technology food processing equipment to separate lean meat from fat trimmings. This process yields an additional 10-12 pounds of lean, nutritious beef from every beef animal that can be added to other ground beef products. It’s being erroneously reported that this product is salvage meat, that it’s from trimmings scooped off the floor of packing plants, that it’s “filler” that is substandard in nutrition and safety and more. This is simply not true.
We met personally at the Beef Industry Safety Summit this past week with Dr. H. Russell Cross, Professor and Head of Department of Animal Science, Texas A&M University. Dr. Cross was the Administrator of the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) at the time of its approval. He feels strongly that this product and process is safe and a valuable source of nutrition at a time when we are faced with the growing challenge of producing more food with fewer resources. Below is a statement validating the safety and nutritional value of this product from Dr. Cross.
Statement From H. Russell Cross, Ph.D.
Professor and Head of Department of Animal Science, Texas A&M University
“As Administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) in the early 90s, I and my staff evaluated numerous research projects before approving lean, finely textured beef as a safe source of high-quality protein. The FSIS safety review process was and is an in-depth, science-based process that spans years, many research projects and involves many experts across all levels of the agency-and in this case, the process proved the product is safe.”
“Approving lean finely textured beef as safe was the right decision, and today, it remains a safe way to meet the nutritional needs of a growing population. All beef is a good or excellent source of 10 essential nutrients including protein, iron, zinc and B-vitamins.
“Finely textured lean beef helps us meet consumer demand for safe, affordable and nutritious food.”
In addition to the statement from Dr. Cross, here are some good resources to share:
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Food Safety News article — This is the article we posted yesterday and encouraged everyone to share on Facebook.
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Pink Slime is a Myth Website – This website was just launched last week by one of the companies who makes LFTB, Beef Products, Inc. (BPI). These BPI company videos describe the process in more detail (http://www.youtube.com/user/BeefProductsInc?ob=0&feature=results_main)
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Engineering a Safer Burger — This Washington Post article from 2008 explains the history of the product.
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International Food Information Council fact sheet on ammonium hydroxide– In the BPI system, ammonium hydroxide is used the destroy bacteria (in another system, citric acid is used to destroy bacteria). This product is “generally recognized as safe” by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and it’s used a variety of foods. The beef is not “soaked in ammonia” as many reports have claimed, but rather sprayed with a “hydrolyzed ammonia” mist to kill bacteria which then evaporates and completely dissipates. According to Dr. Cross, there is no ammonia in the final product.
Here are some additional resources from the American Meat Institute:
In discussing LFTB, remember:
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This product is nutritionally equal to ground beef. The process has been used safely for more than 20 years to yield an additional 10-12 lbs. of lean, nutritious beef, from every beef animal.
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LFTB is produced under USDA inspection in compliance with their food safety and labeling requirements and they buy product that includes it as a component.
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USDA ground beef samples testing positive for E. coli O157:H7 have been cut in half over the past ten years while beef produced using this technology has been used at the same time.
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The product is beef and that’s why it’s not singled out on label as being anything other than beef (even though many media are calling it an “additive”)
Thank you in advance for your efforts to put an end to the “pink slime” myth.
Daren Williams
Masters of Beef Advocacy, Dean of Students
Caring for Elderly Parents
Whew! What a week!! Randy’s mother has had the flu and my mother’s cold turned into a mild case of pneumonia. Further blood tests have revealed she is slightly anemic.
While helping Mother this week, I learned she has been eating KFC, yogurt, or popcorn for most of her meals. Mmm-wonder if that has anything to do with the anemia??
I can understand that it is no fun to cook for one person…especially when we don’t feel well. And, since we raise soybeans and the Colonel is a really good customer— I don’t want to tick him off. Besides, that original recipe has been the centerpiece on our picnic table many times—it is finger-lickin’ good!!
However, a diet that includes beef helps provide essential vitamins and minerals, including Zinc, Iron and B Vitamins. It is important to get enough iron in our diet because iron helps carry oxygen from the lungs to vital organs and muscles (including the brain), enabling them to function normally. Low levels of iron can lead to iron deficiency anemia, which can worsen existing health problems and cause fatigue. Beef also supplies the body with B vitamins, which help convert foods we eat into energy to fuel activity. B vitamins can help protect against cognitive declines later in life. (Some days I REALLY NEED more beef and B vitamins!)
When Randy visited with his mother about her food intake for the day (she lives in a Health Care Facility) she told him she had been given some spaghetti with a red sauce and when she looked real hard she found some meat in it.
Is it any wonder the cold and flu season is dragging on and on?
It was Hippocrates who said,
“Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food.”
Kara’s Swiss Steak
This is one of Kara’s favorite meals. It is delicious and the round-steak is cooked slowly making it really tender and easy to eat. I’m taking some to Mother…
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Tenderized round steak, floured, seasoned to taste (I like Lawry’s seasoning salt) and seared in a couple tablespoons oil
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Tomato sauce (I have used spaghetti sauce and it works great)
*If using tomato sauce, add onion and garlic powder to taste
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Add some water and cover. Let simmer on low for 30 minutes or longer while you cook and mash some potatoes.
Serve with green beans, a salad and chocolate for dessert. It’s that easy!
Food Morality
Bugs on the windshield the past several days?! It’s just now March 1st today! The calendar says spring is still nearly a month away yet the grass is greening and jonquils have pushed through the soil and leaves are trying to open their tender buds.
It may seem that farming is only a three season occupation—spring, summer and autumn, but I suspect those are just the months my husband escapes on his tractor…
The winter months occupy farmers with book work, tax preparation, marketing, moving grain and livestock, seed, fertilizer and chemical ordering, equipment tune-ups and/or trades, fertilizer and lime application, building terraces, rebuilding drainage structures and meetings, meetings, and more meetings. (No wonder he is ready to escape.)
These meetings are usually about Precision Agriculture, Crop Insurance, Root health, Grain Exports, Environmental and Energy policies, and get this—Food Morality.
When I first heard Food Morality was the topic, I couldn’t help but picture my farmer reading the 10 Commandments to his soybeans—I guess that would be legal as long as it is not too close to a federal or state highway…I know he prays over his fields but perhaps he should teach those stalks of corn to bow their tassels and close their ears to worldly lusts. I can’t imagine how to teach morality to the livestock… although our daughter used to baptize her kittens…
In all seriousness, it should please you to hear this is a meeting topic! We want the world to know that YES…farmer’s care about the morality of the food – how it is grown, it’s purity, ethics of funding and how healthy it is for the public. Farmers are not your moral enemy…
I understand though. It is easy to blame the food for my lack of self-discipline at the table. Maybe this healthy soup will help boost you into the new month!
Cousin Tom’s Vegetable Beef Soup…it’s moral as far as I know…
1. Saute’ 1 pound cubed stew meat in canola oil. Sprinkle with garlic powder as it cooks.
2. Dice 4 carrots, 3 medium sized potatoes, 3 stalks of celery (leaves included), 2 small onions, 4-5 kale leaves (cut up with scissors, or ¼ c. frozen), 1 quart green beans, 1 quart tomatoes, and place in stock pot with enough water to cover vegetables.
3. Add meat to this with enough water to cover.
4. Add 1 T. of beef bouillon and 1 T. of chicken bouillon (rounded), 3 T. of all purpose seasoning, ½ t. Basil, 1 t. Italian seasoning, 1 T. garlic powder, and 1 t. onion powder.
5. Bring to a boil for 15 minutes, then turn back to simmer for about 3 hours. Add a little water as necessary.
(From Tom’s sisters and my scrapbooking buddies. They tell me Tom is a fantastic urban farmer.)
A Tribute to the Blue and Gold in Honor of National FFA Week
It was fall and the start of my freshmen year of High School. Excitement filled me literally from head to toe as I zipped up my new, blue, corduroy FFA jacket perfectly embroidered in gold with my full name. This was a big night calling for “official dress” which meant no blue jeans! Mom and I had gone shopping to find the appropriate length of black skirts; one went all the way down to my ankles and the other just past my knees. Tonight I was wearing the knee-length one. We also purchased black hose, professional black dress shoes and a crisp white button up blouse. For years I had dreamed of putting on my “official dress” and rushing out to win some contest or represent the local chapter as an officer just like my dad, older sister, brother-in-law, older brother and older (by one year) best friend had done before me. I had waited and waited….and waited while sitting through countless FFA banquets, speeches and waving at them in parades. It was the fall of 1998 and it was my turn.
The older classmen, as tradition calls for, dipped our hands in John Deere green paint and we recited the FFA Creed … “I believe in the future of agriculture, with a faith born not of words but of deeds…” and just like that I was a Green-Hand in the Salisbury FFA Chapter. Secretly I hoped the paint would never ever fade.
(That’s my sis as a MO State FFA Officer in the second row far left!)
My grandpa surprised me with my dream SAE (Supervised Agricultural Experience) project when he pulled into the drive way with the five prettiest Hereford heifers you have ever seen! I had them eating out of my hands in no time and my dad helped me keep track of everything in my Record Book. I had so much fun learning about entrepreneurship. I also teased dad about how Mary, Laura, Carrie, Grace and Nellie (recognize those names?) stood out beautifully against my dad’s Black Angus cows. Remind me later to tell you about how God answered my prayers twice when Dad bred them to his Angus bulls! My dad couldn’t believe it!
(Here’s a hint! Hee hee!)
When my dad was in the FFA as a high school kid, the rules were different and their blue and gold corduroy jackets were seen as perfectly warm attire to do chores in! That was also back before women could join the organization….
Over the course of the next 4 years I was blessed with many opportunities to compete in contests including Livestock Judging, Sales, and Public Speaking. I zipped up my jacket to give a speech about the joys and trials of raising sheep to the MO Sheep Producers judges. One year later I zipped up my jacket and stood before the MO Farm Bureau Conference to speak on the importance of the Farm Bureau and how it had benefited our family farm.
I packed my jacket when our chapter went on float trips, traveled to both Kansas City and Louisville for the National Conventions (where I got to hear Danny Glover speak), and when I toured with the MO Agri-business Academy. Through these travels I met kids in other blue and gold jackets from across the country that I would have never known existed let alone that they had a common background or interests as me. All through High School you could find me in the Ag Department before, during and after school as well as on most weekends! The athletes were lifting weights and I was carrying feed buckets. They were memorizing plays while I was memorizing speeches. We both had important goals in mind; and we both knew it would take hard work and discipline to accomplish them.
My senior year had come and it was time to try for a State FFA Office to represent our Area. Once I knew I was on the team I would apply for Mizzou and study Ag Education. I had dreamed about becoming a State Officer since I was 8 years old.
(The only reason I share this is to encourage another young dreamer.)
This interview called for “Official Dress” of course so I zipped up my faithful blue and gold corduroy jacket, prayed with my parents and headed off with my Advisor for what was sure to be the biggest night of my life to that point.
However… God had a different plan in mind. I soon learned that HIS plans are not always ours and His ways are actually higher than ours.
When they announced the girl’s name next to me as the new State FFA Officer from our area I was beyond devastated. We hugged, I said a brief “congratulations” and faked the best smile I could and then with a knowing look my advisor quickly rounded up our crew and we headed to the local McDonalds for milk shakes. I couldn’t go inside though…I couldn’t move. My heart was broken. Mr. Scheiderer sat with me in the car while I cried and cried and he cried with me. He told me how proud of me he was with such sincerity in his eyes. I then called my sister knowing that she had been praying for me. When I told her through tears that I had let everyone down, she lovingly assured me that I did my best and that God simply had other plans that are good and perfect. She reminded me of my favorite verse,
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Phil 4:13)
It meant that through His strength I could get through this moment, this change in direction and this sudden uncertainty of the future.
God did give me strength and it wasn’t long before HIS plans became clear. He showed me that Ag Ed wasn’t the plan for me and gave me a peace and a place to call home at HLG-U where I studied Communications (which I use daily with my job) and met the love of my life, Ryan. I had been so focused on MY plans that I didn’t stop to see if they aligned with HIS plans. This trial taught me humility, gratitude and perseverance.
I put on my “Official Dress” one last time for our Spring FFA Banquet just before graduation and the Lord gave me the words of a popular Michael W. Smith song to include in my farewell speech. It encourages us to focus on the time God has given us to “drink of the deep and unlock the mysteries of all we can be.” We may not know His plans, but we can always trust they are good and perfect. Another favorite verse comes from Jeremiah 29:11…
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a future and a hope.”
That blue and gold jacket which now hangs proudly in my parents front closet means true, life-long friends. It also means an Ag Advisor who believes in his or her students and parents who sacrifice so that their children can be at every activity and cheer loudly with each achievement. It represents to me the many members of the community who attend the FFA breakfasts and football game BBQ’s, provide scholarships from their businesses, serve as “mock judges” when students practice for contests and faithfully purchase fruit baskets so that the local chapter can travel to the conventions.
(Ryan’s cousin Michael and his fellow team from the Silex, MO FFA Chapter)
FFA jackets then and today represent hard work, respect, leadership and first and foremost, an appreciation of agriculture.
…”I believe in the future of agriculture, with a faith born not of words but of deeds…”
(Written by guest blogger and our youngest daughter, Kara Edwards)
Safely Home
“Don’t feed her so much at a time,” my husband cautioned me when we tried to gentle our horse. “You want her to be dependent on you so you can control her.”
I can’t help it. I’m a “feeder”. And our horse is fat and lazy to prove it.
After reading Randy Alcorn’s compelling novel, SAFELY HOME (it’s fiction based on truth—the way I like to be educated), I learned that China controls her people in much the same way—rationing food and other necessities of life. And I learned how those people who will not be controlled by the government in China are persecuted.
This book, as my beautiful nieces would say, “will change your life”! I believe it will be my book of 2012. Last year’s was Anne Voskamp’s, ONE THOUSAND GIFTS. The year before that was Kathryn Stoddard’s THE HELP and the year before that was WATER FOR ELEPHANTS by Sara Gruen.
Speaking of those lovely nieces…they, along with their DECCA group and high school, have raised nearly $5,000 for Kid’s Against Hunger. At 23 cents per meal that will provide 21,739 meals for hungry people over the world, including the United States! (as an American food producer, for the life of me, I cannot understand why there are hungry children in the United States.)
(Click photo to see a video of their completed project!)
Another thought-provoking book, A MEAL WITH JESUS by Tim Chester states that Americans spend over $50 billion on dieting each year. And, “American Christians spend more on dieting than on world missions.” Ouch! It seems Americans have grown fat and lazy like my horse…
But there is hope for us! Our church youth group is hosting a 30 hour fast and prayer to stop hunger. This generation is not going to be as complacent as my generation has been!
Instead of the traditional cherry pie this President’s Day Weekend, we feasted on Chinese cuisine as we remembered the Persecuted Church in China.
This is my new favorite salad. It was taken from a Taste of Home magazine years ago.
FRESH BROCCOLI/MANDARIN SALAD
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4 cups fresh broccoli florets, 1-inch cuts
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½ cup golden raisins
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6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
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2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
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½ cup slivered almonds, toasted
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1 can (11 ounces) mandarin oranges, drained
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½ medium red onion, sliced in 1/8 inch-thick rings
CUSTARD DRESSING:
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1 egg plus 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
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½ cup sugar
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1-1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
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1 teaspoon dry mustard
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¼ cup vinegar
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¼ cup water
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3 tablespoons butter, softened
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½ cup mayonnaise
In top of double boiler, whisk together egg, egg yolk, sugar, cornstarch and mustard. Combine vinegar and water; slowly whisk into egg mixture. Place over hot water and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens. Remove from heat; stir in butter and mayonnaise. Chill. Toss dressing with remaining ingredients in serving bowl. Serve, store chilled. Yield: 10-12 servings.
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