HOW’S THAT PIE?
When is meat no longer meat? When the FDA folks responsible for labeling the stuff refuse to eat it themselves. Not a bad guideline if you think about it.
We first heard about the chemical-treated slime that was being fed to our kids in public schools as hamburger a couple of weeks ago. We were outraged that such a thing could happen.
After all, “pink slime,” as it is now called, is a collection of beef byproducts formerly used only in pet foods. Now they are heating it and then spinning it to separate the textured salvage product from the partially liquefied fat. Then they sell us what’s left over as meat.
The two FDA whistle-blowers who brought the “pink slime” to our attention are unified in their opinion that this stuff that is treated with ammonia isn’t meat at all, and they themselves refuse to eat it. They claim that the only reason it is allowed to be labeled as meat by its manufacturer, the not-so-aptly named Beef Products Inc., is because higher-ups at the FDA with ties to the beef industry allowed it.
According to ABC News, the decision to call “pink slime” meat allegedly belongs to former Undersecretary of Agriculture Joann Smith, who was appointed to the board of Beef Products Inc.’s largest distributor, where she has made a cool $1.2 million so far. Wonder what her kids eat.
But before you start feeling sorry for schoolchildren, it is now being reported that more than 70 percent of all ground beef sold in stores contains the pink slime, formerly dog-food product as a filler.
It seems we’ve all been getting hosed by the FDA. It’s like the government is playing the role of the revengeful maid Minny from The Help and we’re the ones eating — shhh — slime. The only difference is that none of us, including our kids, did anything to deserve such an extreme and grotesque experience.
ANOTHER REASON SOUTHERN GOP WOMEN NEED CONTRACEPTION
Just when you thought it was safe to drive across the South on your way to Florida, a new poll shows that it is likely a premature inkling.
Alabama and Mississippi Republicans have responded to a new poll from Public Policy Polling that asked about President Obama’s religious beliefs. The results must have made Donald Trump very proud.
In Alabama, only 14 percent of GOP respondents said Obama is a “Christian,” this despite the president having been a professing Christian for most of his adult life. The most popular answer was, of course, “Muslim,” with 45 percent of respondents choosing that answer. And finally, 41 percent of Alabama GOP voters polled said they weren’t sure of Obama’s religious preference. We could be wrong, but we’d be willing to bet that at least 41 percent didn’t know who Obama was. But we digress.
In Mississippi, the Republicans taking the same poll made their Alabama peers look like a bastion of progressive intellectuals. In the state best known as being number 50 in virtually every known category, only 12 percent went with Christian, while a whopping 52 percent answered Muslim.
Apparently the other 36 percent didn’t know what a Muslim was, so they just said they weren’t sure.
Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com
