# Think "Pink Slime" Disgusting? What About Sausages and Hotdogs? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 23, 2012, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-pink-slime-disgusting-what-about-sausages-and-hotdogs/616636 "2012-03-23T20:22:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2012, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-pink-slime-disgusting-what-about-sausages-and-hotdogs/616636/21 "2012-03-27T22:49:48Z")
> [@mister\_nyx](#): > > Not really. Nitrites used in curing meat may have some small on bacterial growth, but they’re not there as a disinfectant. They change the color and flavor of the meat. In cured sausages, the growth of certain beneficial bacteria is part of producing them, so sterilizing the meat would be counterproductive. > > This stuff may or may not make the food supply more dangerous but it’s definitely not analogous to traditional curing, as ralph124c’s post implies. Wrong. The nitrites and nitrates in sausage are there to prevent botulism. > **[Sausage making](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sausage_making)** > > The origins of meat preservation are lost to the ages but probably began when humans began to realize the preservative value of salt. > Sausage making originally developed as a means to preserve and transport meat. Primitive societies learned that dried berries and spices could be added to dried meat. > The procedure of stuffing meat into casings remains basically the same today, but sausage recipes have been greatly refined and sausage making has become a highly respected culinary art. > Sausages co... Even the origin of the word botulism comes from the word sausage. > **[Botulism - Etymology, Origin & Meaning](https://www.etymonline.com/word/botulism)** > > Originating from German Botulismus (1878) and Medieval Latin botulus "sausage," the term means poisoning caused by eating imperfectly preserved food, especially t... ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-pink-slime-disgusting-what-about-sausages-and-hotdogs/616636/22 "2012-03-28T01:02:00Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > Wrong. The nitrites and nitrates in sausage are there to prevent botulism. > > [Sausage making - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sausage_making) > > Even the origin of the word botulism comes from the word sausage. > > [Botulism - Etymology, Origin & Meaning](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=botulism) Do you (or somebody else) know the answer to the question of why they use nitrites if other methods of sterilization can be used? As an example, today I looked at two cans of soup, nearly identical but one had sausage in it and the other had beef. The one with beef did not have any nitrites in it (sodium nitrite or sources of nitrite), yet the sausage one did; it also had chicken, which had no nitrites listed as an ingredient under that heading, and yes, they are already cooked, and sterile until opened. That tells me that nitrites are specific to meats like sausage, and more than just a preservative (I can see it used in refrigerated meat, which isn’t kept frozen and preventing bacterial growth). ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-pink-slime-disgusting-what-about-sausages-and-hotdogs/616636/23 "2012-03-28T01:47:54Z")
> [@Michael63129](#): > > Do you (or somebody else) know the answer to the question of why they use nitrites if other methods of sterilization can be used? As an example, today I looked at two cans of soup, nearly identical but one had sausage in it and the other had beef. The one with beef did not have any nitrites in it (sodium nitrite or sources of nitrite), yet the sausage one did; it also had chicken, which had no nitrites listed as an ingredient under that heading, and yes, they are already cooked, and sterile until opened. That tells me that nitrites are specific to meats like sausage, and more than just a preservative (I can see it used in refrigerated meat, which isn’t kept frozen and preventing bacterial growth). there is the color aspect too, as has been mentioned. Cooked meat is generally grayish in color. Nitrates keep it pink/red; the use of [potassium nitrate](http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/corned-beef-and-cabbage-recipe/index.html) is what keeps corned beef bright and pink. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-pink-slime-disgusting-what-about-sausages-and-hotdogs/616636/24 "2012-03-28T10:19:37Z")
> [@Michael63129](#): > > For those worried about pink slime, here’s some good news: > > Now only if that last factory were closed, it would no longer be used at all. Great. Now beef is going to be more expensive, and more poor people are going to have to go without. It’s one thing to want to know that it’s in your food. I can get behind that. But getting it shut down? What horribly selfish people. At least the people who think everyone should get all meat locally have some other reasons behind their ideas. But this just boils down to “This is gross. I don’t want it. So no one can have it.” ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-pink-slime-disgusting-what-about-sausages-and-hotdogs/616636/25 "2012-03-28T11:42:04Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Great. Now beef is going to be more expensive, and more poor people are going to have to go without. > > It’s one thing to want to know that it’s in your food. I can get behind that. But getting it shut down? What horribly selfish people. > > At least the people who think everyone should get all meat locally have some other reasons behind their ideas. But this just boils down to “This is gross. I don’t want it. So no one can have it.” I totally agree with this. Worrying about every ingredient in one’s food is really a middle-class first-world luxury. (I’m not talking about knowing what’s in one’s food. I’m talking about the hand-wringing that seems to be going on right now.) I’ve bought locally-produced beef before. Yes, it’s the food of the gods, but it’s also very expensive and not something I can afford to do on a regular basis. (ISTR that steak was around $15-20 per pound.) It’s also possible to get sick eating locally-produced ground beef; you’re trusting that the processor’s equipment has been properly cleaned and disinfected, and that the meat was stored properly after processing. In any event, the farmer may have raised the cow, but he may not have been the guy who processed the meat. (By “processing”, I mean “getting the formerly-living animal ready to be sold”.) So the process by which Bossy turned into hamburger isn’t dissimilar from the process by which corporate America turns cattle into hamburger. And you have to trust the local guy just as much, if not more. I also find it highly amusing that the same people who are so concerned about additives in meat, which keep the food safer, are okay with drinking raw, unpasteurized milk. It’s just a tad inconsistent. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-pink-slime-disgusting-what-about-sausages-and-hotdogs/616636/26 "2012-03-29T02:01:30Z")
> [@MsRobyn](#): > > I also find it highly amusing that the same people who are so concerned about additives in meat, which keep the food safer, are okay with drinking raw, unpasteurized milk. It’s just a tad inconsistent. Don’t put us all in a lump. Knowing what I know, I would never even sample raw milk knowingly, though my father grew up on the stuff. As to the poor people needing access to cheap beef, they (we) don’t. Or at least not as often as the meat industry would have us think we do. The longest-lived people on this earth tend to have diets that are low in meat and high in dairy and vegetable protein. The may have grown up eating meat anywhere from twice a week to once a year. And they are not even middle-class. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-pink-slime-disgusting-what-about-sausages-and-hotdogs/616636/27 "2012-03-29T03:00:35Z")
Chorizo is one of my favorite meats for a quick dinner. (In fact i’m eating some right now.) The ingredients list on the brand I usually buy actually _says_ it’s made from lymph nodes and salivary glands. As long as it tastes good and won’t make me sick, i’m down. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-pink-slime-disgusting-what-about-sausages-and-hotdogs/616636/28 "2012-03-29T03:12:36Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Chorizo is one of my favorite meats for a quick dinner. (In fact i’m eating some right now.) The ingredients list on the brand I usually buy actually _says_ it’s made from lymph nodes and salivary glands. > > As long as it tastes good and won’t make me sick, i’m down. it’s fairly easy to get people riled up about anything as long as the name sounds scary enough (like the classic example of dihydrogen monoxide.) I mean, did you know many types of candy your kids are eating contain α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→2)-β-D-fructofuranoside? ---
**Author:** ![azraiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@azraiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/azraiel)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-pink-slime-disgusting-what-about-sausages-and-hotdogs/616636/29 "2012-03-29T07:54:58Z")
> [@carnut](#): > > The longest-lived people on this earth tend to have diets that are low in meat and high in dairy and vegetable protein. Care to provide a citation? ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-pink-slime-disgusting-what-about-sausages-and-hotdogs/616636/30 "2012-03-29T11:04:53Z")
> [@carnut](#): > > Don’t put us all in a lump. Knowing what I know, I would never even sample raw milk knowingly, though my father grew up on the stuff. _You_ may not drink raw milk, but the attitude I’ve picked up on at the local farmer’s market is that they won’t question how their meat is processed because they assume that it’s not as processed as the stuff they find at the supermarket, and that somehow, locally-produced meat is immune (heh) from harboring food-borne pathogens. Yet they will demand the right to raw milk, also believing that it’s “better” than pasteurized. You and I have the critical thinking skills to know that that position is inconsistent (and stupidly dangerous, especially if that milk is fed to young children), but the average nuts-and-berries person doesn’t, or if they do, don’t think about what’s in their food. > [@](#): > > As to the poor people needing access to cheap beef, they (we) don’t. Or at least not as often as the meat industry would have us think we do. The longest-lived people on this earth tend to have diets that are low in meat and high in dairy and vegetable protein. The may have grown up eating meat anywhere from twice a week to once a year. And they are not even middle-class. I know that red meat isn’t essential to a healthy diet, which is why I’ve cut way back on it and have been substituting more chicken, fish, and lean pork. However, we live in a culture that is still oriented to the meat-and-starch model. It’s cheap and easy to feed the family with a pound of hamburger and a bag of noodles or box of something like Hamburger Helper. Heck, I subscribe to a daily-recipe e-mail and a lot of those recipes rely on red meat and starch. So I’m not talking about people like you and me, I’m talking about Joe and Jane Q. Public. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-pink-slime-disgusting-what-about-sausages-and-hotdogs/616636/31 "2012-03-29T11:09:45Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > If anything, we need MORE pink slime hidden in everything. People get all up in arms about GMO foods, but few realize that pretty much anything made with soy or corn products is GMO now. If pink slime were in EVERYTHING, then maybe people would stop caring so much. Pink slime for you, and for me! Fuck no. I stopped eating anything with processed meat because of it. Since those lying assholes deceptively hide something they knew was in fact quite disgusting to most people, they can’t be trusted. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-pink-slime-disgusting-what-about-sausages-and-hotdogs/616636/32 "2012-03-29T11:32:58Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Great. Now beef is going to be more expensive, and more poor people are going to have to go without. > > It’s one thing to want to know that it’s in your food. I can get behind that. But getting it shut down? What horribly selfish people. > > At least the people who think everyone should get all meat locally have some other reasons behind their ideas. But this just boils down to “This is gross. I don’t want it. So no one can have it.” :rolleyes::rolleyes: Well that’s not fair at all. I read the story, they’re closing down because people where upset about being lied to. Lying by omission is still lying. Deceptive companies have no business being in the food business. Even still they’re not being forced to close down by anyone except public demand. Should the public continue to eat a product they find to be disgusting and vile for your warm fuzzies? ---
**Author:** ![LoonyMoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/34f0e0/32.png) [@LoonyMoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LoonyMoon)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-pink-slime-disgusting-what-about-sausages-and-hotdogs/616636/33 "2012-03-30T13:03:18Z")
I’m not buying a commercial burger anywhere, or packaged ground beef at the market. I’m an omnivore, but have some standards. If I want a burger, I’ll buy a chuck roast and put it through the grinder at home. Now that I know about pink slime, yuck–just YUCK. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-pink-slime-disgusting-what-about-sausages-and-hotdogs/616636/34 "2012-03-30T13:11:17Z")
Now if Jamie Oliver would turn his Rovian tactics againt HFCS, maybe we’d actually get a bit healthier as a nation. At least there’s a reason to be concerned there. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-pink-slime-disgusting-what-about-sausages-and-hotdogs/616636/35 "2012-03-30T13:38:42Z")
> [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](#): > > :rolleyes::rolleyes: > > Well that’s not fair at all. I read the story, they’re closing down because people where upset about being lied to. Lying by omission is still lying. Deceptive companies have no business being in the food business. Even still they’re not being forced to close down by anyone except public demand. > > Should the public continue to eat a product they find to be disgusting and vile for your warm fuzzies? No, people who have a problem with it should go to Whole Foods or their local fresh pack butcher and buy stuff without pink slime. They shouldn’t, IMNSHO, make a big anti-scientific ruckus about it and get factories closed down over accepted and shown safe practices so that the people who shop at Aldi can’t afford their cheap, pink-slime containing prepacked ground beef. It’s exactly what they’re complaining about - taking the choice away from other people by omission. If you have the right to not eat pink slime, then I should have the right to eat pink slime. I’ll support your call for labeling, sure. (Although since pink slime \*is \*beef, that would suggest that the labeling on your ground beef should read “Beef: contains added beef”, but sure, whatever, I get it.) But where you’ve now pissed me the fuck off is in deciding that you know better than me (and better than the USDA and better than food scientists) and your protests are making MY food budget that much harder to manage. Don’t like pink slime? Don’t buy it. If you shop somewhere that has a live person behind the counter, ask them if there’s pink slime in his ground beef. If you shop somewhere were there’s no live person behind the counter, then assume it has pink slime in it (because it probably does). Isn’t that simple? ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-pink-slime-disgusting-what-about-sausages-and-hotdogs/616636/36 "2012-03-30T13:55:13Z")
> [@Michael63129](#): > > Shouldn’t heat be enough (it even destroys botulinum toxin) without having to use chemicals, and storage in a freezer enough to prevent bacterial growth? Most meat that can be just refrigerated has nitrites, but since they are precooked, they are essentially sterile (yes, it can go bad after being opened, but so can any food). I don’t know of many people (in other words, nobody) who eat raw meat… Some toxins can’t be destroyed without heat – of the top of my head, endotoxins are basically bits of dead bacteria. If you eat enough of them, your immune system will trigger a “DANGER! EJECT EVERYTHING!” response in your digestive tract. So you can absolutely become violently ill by eating thoroughly contaminated, thoroughly cooked food. And on top of that, there are a lot of people that like rare or medium burgers. Anything that’s pink hasn’t been cooked enough to kill all potential pathogens. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-pink-slime-disgusting-what-about-sausages-and-hotdogs/616636/37 "2012-03-30T14:11:10Z")
Cobalt 60 irradiation has been proven to kill all pathogens in meat-and it is a cheap, quick procedure. Why haven’t we moved to do this? Seems like ground beef is always being looked at (as a source of disease germs)-it frequently is produced in unsanitary conditions, and makes lots of people sick. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-pink-slime-disgusting-what-about-sausages-and-hotdogs/616636/38 "2012-03-30T14:21:10Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Cobalt 60 irradiation has been proven to kill all pathogens in meat-and it is a cheap, quick procedure. > Why haven’t we moved to do this? Seems like ground beef is always being looked at (as a source of disease germs)-it frequently is produced in unsanitary conditions, and makes lots of people sick. We’ve had irradiated meat on the market for decades. Since 1986, it’s been clearly labeled with a special symbol: [http://ag.ansc.purdue.edu/meat\_quality/irradiation.html](http://ag.ansc.purdue.edu/meat_quality/irradiation.html). It’s been approved by the USDA for use on [uncooked meats since 2000](http://www.fsis.usda.gov/oa/background/irrad_final.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-pink-slime-disgusting-what-about-sausages-and-hotdogs/616636/39 "2012-03-30T17:57:04Z")
> [@MsRobyn](#): > > I know that red meat isn’t essential to a healthy diet, which is why I’ve cut way back on it and have been substituting more chicken, fish, and lean pork. However, we live in a culture that is still oriented to the meat-and-starch model. It’s cheap and easy to feed the family with a pound of hamburger and a bag of noodles or box of something like Hamburger Helper. Heck, I subscribe to a daily-recipe e-mail and a lot of those recipes rely on red meat and starch. So I’m not talking about people like you and me, I’m talking about Joe and Jane Q. Public. Red meat [may not be](http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/news/20100517/processed-meat-linked-to-heart-disease-risks) the evil it is often portrayed as, at least not if it is just beef, pork or lamb without any chemicals added (probably nitrites; presumably, ammonia treatment is safe, and it is [widely used](http://www.foodinsight.org/Resources/Detail.aspx?topic=Questions_and_Answers_about_Ammonium_Hydroxide_Use_in_Food_Production) in almost every category of food): > [@](#): > > May 17, 2010 – A new study shows eating processed red meat – such as hot dogs, bacon, sausage, and cold cuts – is linked to increased risks of heart disease and diabetes. > > But the study, published in Circulation, shows no such link for unprocessed red meat. (they still recommend not to eat it all the time, since of course it has more fat and calories than other meat; this also isn’t limited to red meat; [salted fish](http://thestar.com.my/health/story.asp?file=/2007/6/10/health/17964066&sec=health) has been linked to cancer due to nitrites) ---
**Author:** ![Carptracker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ac91a4/32.png) [@Carptracker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carptracker)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-pink-slime-disgusting-what-about-sausages-and-hotdogs/616636/40 "2012-03-30T19:25:21Z")
Not a problem at my house. We eat venison, goose, duck, wild turkey, and lots of fish that I process myself. Occasionally a wild pig, but have not seen one of those for a while round here. Maybe once a year pork butt or pork steaks, and one in a while chicken beast or shrimp from the store. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-pink-slime-disgusting-what-about-sausages-and-hotdogs/616636.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-pink-slime-disgusting-what-about-sausages-and-hotdogs/616636.md?page=3)