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Defatted_beef_trimmings

Level 4 — Significant concerns

Defatted_Beef_Trimmings is a other additive listed in the FDA food-additive database.

Also: lean finely textured beef, LFTB, pink slime, ammonia-treated beef

What the research says

Beef Products Inc. pioneered processing the fattiest scraps (up to 70% fat, previously diverted to pet food or tallow) through a centrifuge to defat them, then treating with ammonia gas to kill E. coli from the cow exterior. Mixed into ~70% of grocery and school-lunch hamburger before McDonald's discontinued it in 2011. [salt-sugar-fat] Beef Products Inc. pioneered processing the fattiest scraps (up to 70% fat, previously diverted to pet food or tallow) through a centrifuge to defat them, then treating with ammonia gas to kill E. coli from the cow exterior. Mixed into ~70% of grocery and school-lunch hamburger before McDonald's discontinued it in 2011.

Regulatory status

  • Notes: From enrichment source only, not in Winter Dictionary

Sources

  • Salt Sugar Fat (Moss) — Chapter 10 (The Message the Government Conveys): I do not consider the stuff to be ground beef, and I consider allowing it in ground beef to be a form of fraudulent labeling