So I assume all of you happily chow down whatever organ meet is in front of you? You wouldn’t mind a nice meal of duck uterus, live mangrove worm, donkey penis, pig brains and balut (fertilized duck egg with a duck fetus)?
We all have our sensibilities, rational or not. Consumers should have a choice in what they purchase with their money, and I think that is what this is really about. People aren’t upset that pink slime exists or that people eat it. They are upset because that they did not have a choice in whether or not they consume it. Humans tend to be touchy about what enters their body, and it feels like a violation when you lose your control to make those choices.
If it was well-prepared by someone I trusted, and I was reasonably confident it wasn’t going to poison or sicken me, sure. I’m not really sure what point you’re trying for here.
This, I agree with. Although I disagree that people aren’t upset that pink slime exists or that people eat it. A lot of the commentary I’ve seen on Facebook and elsewhere about this stuff seems to primarily be, “OH MY GOD people EAT THIS? EWWWWWWW.”
And you seriously don’t do that for balut? I’ve eaten balut, but just looking at pictures of the stuff makes me gag. Do you really find it foreign and strange that most Americans would react negatively to it? If you honestly don’t get it and need to make it more extreme, would you react negatively to eating human flesh (assuming the subject died a natural death and the meat was healthy and safe)? Think of the all that wonderful protein that we are literally burning and burying for no good reason! Every culture has food taboos, and everyone has some line beyond which the idea of eating product X will trigger disgust and revulsion.
I choose to try to stick to the general principle of eating food that hasn’t gone through too many steps from field to table. I don’t need to justify this to anyone, and it’s nobody’s business if it is rational or not. I pay my money at the grocery store, and the decisions that go into what I buy are mine and mine alone. But it’s not fair to not disclose an ingredient because you know that it would lead some people not to buy your product.
No. Did I say that? You asked if everyone would “happily chow down on any organ meat put in front of them.” Well, if someone put organ meat in front of me and told me, “No seriously, this is good stuff, you should try it,” I’d try it. My question was what your point was with this.
My policy is eat it first, and if I like it, ask what’s in it afterward. As a result, I now eat and enjoy a lot of things that are traditionally considered “icky”. And can even make some of them myself.
Most people eat things every day that they would yack if they knew what was in it or how it was made. Mainly because Americans have become totally removed from where their food actually comes from. This is just an example of people finding out how something they’ve been eating all along is really made, and being shocked by it. I don’t feel the slightest pity for them. As far as having control over what goes into their bodies, they lost that choice the instant they paid someone else to prepare it so they wouldn’t have to. They’ve got government agencies making sure it won’t kill them. If that isn’t enough, too bad. They can raise, slaughter, butcher, and prepare the food themselves if they want control. Again, no pity.
Umm, I would and do. I actively seek them out, in fact. I’ve never had balut, but it’s on my list. Just a few weeks ago I sauteed up some muskrat lungs. Turns out they’re not that great (there’s a shocker, I know).
Of course, I’m a pretty “adventurous” eater, and I wouldn’t expect most people to share my sensibilities. And really, I understand why it grosses people out. I don’t like lima beans, in fact I wonder how they’re even considered edible. And they’re downright cute compared to pink slime.
What gets me about the hysteria over this is that it’s portrayed in a sensational manner as this disgusting, unsanitary, chemical and feces-laden trash when in fact it’s processed and treated via methods widely used in the food industry in a manner consistent with other commonly consumed products. As others have mentioned, no one likes to see how the sausage gets made. And I’m sure someone could produce a video about the handling of lettuce from field to grocery store that would make stomachs turn at the thought of a salad.
Having said that, I DO agree that we should call shenanigans on putting this stuff in ground meat when it’s not labeled as such. People certainly have a right to know what they’re paying for, and if this leads to better package labeling in this area, then perhaps it’s worth the hysteria.
And one time my cousin’s cousin found a rat in the Kentucky Fried Chicken! And the hook was ON THE CAR DOOR! And the hitchhiker’s mom said she did years ago!
The marketing people need to get on to this “pink slime” thing: it sounds both unappetizing and ghey.
It needs to be “natural cuts” or “traditional meat” or something.
No, I’m not actually being serious.
I saw a programme recently about sausages. Almost all of the programme was gratuitous images of butchers and slaughterhouses and showing the sinew and whatever that goes into sausage meat.
Then, at the end they asked a couple of dietitians and health experts a few leading questions e.g. “Can we be sure this meat is safe?”, “What might be the risks with eating this kind of meat?” etc.
All the experts basically said there was no particular risk, it’s just somewhat fatty meat.
Seriously, though. Nobody would be upset about pink slime in a Slim Jim. When you buy a Slim Jim, you expect that sort of thing. But some people do, for whatever reason, make an effort relatively unprocessed foods. These people choose ground beef over the Slim Jim, assuming that the ground beef is what you’d think it is- a hunk of meet that has been put into a grinder. When you take away the knowledge, you take away the choice, and people have a right to make informed choices about what they put in their body.
I don’t trust the FDA to tell me what is safe to eat. They told me that chicken farms are safe, but now I can no longer eat raw cookie dough because e. coli has become endemic in eggs. They told me that our beef farms were safe, but then we found that the cannibalism they approved was creating bizarre and terrifying diseases in cows. What I want the FDA to do is to protect my ability to make my own choices, not to make those choices for me and assure me that they are safe.
I don’t recall the FDA ever telling us that raw eggs or raw cookie dough were safe to eat.
As to the rest, I agree that consumers should be provided with knowledge of what they’re being sold. I personally try to avoid trans-fats, and the labeling regarding that is apparently legal, but less than honest, which does annoy me.
The knowledge that something contains this so-called “pink slime” wouldn’t bother me. It’s parts of animals, something I already eat, and small amounts of ammonia, something else I already eat and also produce in my own body.
So yes, you should be told, and them make up your own mind.
I think if there were a public outcry against the horror that is haggis, causing it to be removed from restaurants. school lunches, and supermarkets, people here would be defending it (the haggis, not the outcry).
Haggis is fun to mock and make faces about, but I’d try it.
I’ve had haggis. It was basically somewhat dry, spicy mincemeat.
It annoys me when meat-eaters turn up their nose at particular meats simply because they are not the cultural norm where they are from.
It’s not quite hypocrisy, but it is a form of ignorance IMO.
The underlying problem most people have with the “pink slime” issue is that it’s causing them to think about things they very much do not want to contemplate.