Hy-Vee Inc., after being pressured by Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, announced Wednesday that its stores would continue to offer ground beef containing a controversial ground beef additive.Actually it’s what’s referred to in the industry as “Baader meat”. It’s perfectly good and wholesome in it’s content and derivation.
Producers call it "lean, finely textured beef," but it has become widely known as "pink slime."
Hy-Vee's announcement, revealed during a Wednesday afternoon press conference in Des Moines with Branstad and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, marks a quick reversal of the Iowa-based chain's stance last week to join several other grocery chains and drop products containing the additive.
"The governor called and expressed his concern," Ruth Comer, a Hy-Vee spokeswoman said in an interview. "We were already looking at what we might do to take care of customers, and the governor's voice certainly did factor into the feedback we were already receiving."
A machine called a Baader or similar machine removes the remaining meat on the bones that cannot be removed by hand. It’s more finely textured because of the process that the machine uses (high pressure) to remove the remaining meat. A small percentage is added to regular ground product so that the texture is basically unchanged.
Frankly, this is much ado about nothing.
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