Dozens of House Members Join Call for Banning Pink Slime in Schools

Statement

Forty-one Members of Congress have signed onto Congresswoman Chellie Pingree's effort to convince the Obama Administration to ban pink slime from school cafeterias.

"McDonald's won't serve pink slime. Wal-Mart won't sell it. And Maine school officials have said they'll stop buying it," Pingree said. "I think Americans have been pretty clear how disgusting they think this stuff is."

Recently the U. S. Department of Agriculture authorized the purchase of 7 million pounds of the substance, called 'finely textured lean beef trimmings' by the beef industry, to be used in school lunches.

"Just imagine if school menus had to accurately describe what's going into some lunchroom hamburgers. If you saw 'cartilage, connective tissue and ammonia' was being served at your kids' school today, I imagine they'd be having a peanut butter and jelly sandwich," Pingree said.

Earlier this month Pingree wrote to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack urging the government to immediately end the use of the product in school lunches. Following Pingree's letter, the USDA announced it would give schools the option of buying beef without pink slime. But Pingree says that doesn't go far enough and asked her colleagues in Congress to sign her letter calling for an outright ban.

"It's wrong to feed children a slurry that was formerly only used for dog food. I hope you will do everything in your power to eliminate it from school lunch programs around the country," Pingree wrote in the letter.

Pingree also said she's considering legislation that would require products containing pink slime be clearly labeled.

"It's pretty clear that most American's don't want this stuff in their hamburger but what isn't so clear is how you can avoid it. If producers don't label products that contain pink slime, it's nearly impossible for consumers to make intelligent decisions about what they are putting on the table at home," Pingree said.

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