# 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:** 2\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-pink-slime-disgusting-what-about-sausages-and-hotdogs/616636/41 "2012-03-30T21:30:34Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > 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. > -snip- > 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? Major grocery store chains are now dropping products containing pink slime. Perhaps they are simply responding to market conditions. It is not just individuals making the call - it is the market in action. If the label says “Ground Chuck”, one would not be expecting other parts of the animal in there. If the label says “Ground Chuck with nibs of bovine rectum and digestive tract treated with ammonia”, nobody would buy it (rightly or wrongly). No amount of Texas Governors on TV eating the stuff will make people feel it is OK. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-pink-slime-disgusting-what-about-sausages-and-hotdogs/616636/42 "2012-03-31T13:11:26Z")
> [@Michael63129](#): > > 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): > > (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) I know this, because I cut way back; I didn’t eliminate it altogether. My feeling about food is that it’s not possible to eliminate everything that can possibly cause cancer, heart disease or any other nastiness, real or imagined, from our diet. It’s just not. Yet I know people who have given up so many foods on that basis that they become at least somewhat malnourished because they’re forsaking valuable sources of nutrients for fear of a relatively trivial risk of disease that may or may not even happen. Yet they convince themselves and are convinced that they’re “eating healthy”. Sociologist Barry Glassner’s excellent book [_The Gospel of Food_](http://www.amazon.com/The-Gospel-Food-Everything-Think/dp/0060501219/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1333198877&sr=8-3) is a very readable commentary on our fear of food and what goes in it. It’s worth reading if you’re interested in a sane, rational point of view. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-pink-slime-disgusting-what-about-sausages-and-hotdogs/616636.md?page=2)