School lunches have always been touted as healthy. That myth was shattered when videos surfaced in early march of meat being processed in a factory. The video showed meat in its early stages of processing. Of course, you would never know it was meat because it looked like a glob of pink slime. What is even more disturbing is that this pink goo is what eventually ends up on the tray of school lunches.
Amidst the outcry, Beef Products Inc., the manufacturer of the processed meat, announced that it would halt production of the beef filler at three of its four factories. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has permitted schools to stop using the meat in their cafeteria. The USDA, however, has insisted that the meat does meet all requirements for food health and safety.
The meat is composed of leftover scraps from other meat cuts. The scraps have its fat separated and is compressed into ground meat. The product is then washed in ammonium hydroxide to kill harmful bacteria. Ammonium hydroxide is the chemical contained in most cleaning agents. This is one of the primary reasons for the outcry and call for it to be removed from school lunches.
If the thought of your child eating meat that was once a glob of pink slime is unsettling, then you can opt to prepare your child’s school lunches yourself. By preparing the lunch, you know what exactly your child will be eating. Fixing your child’s meal is easy. It can be something as simple as a juice box, fruit, bag of baked chips and a sandwich made with natural meat. Of course, all schools by now have stopped using the pink slime meat, but if there is still doubt about what the cafeteria is putting into their lunches, then invest in the time to prepare a healthier alternative of your own.