Iowa Public radio aired Governor stating Pink Slime makers civil rights violated.

[shcrane71]

but I can't find that link after advanced Google searching. I asked friends, and they said they heard that too; so, I know it just wasn't a voice in my head. I did find this though:

http://www.marlerblog.com/lawyer-oped/iowa-governor-terry-branstad-is-a-tool-and-a-pathetic-one-at-that/

... Apparently, Governor Branstad has called for a Congressional investigation (that would be the same Congress that has refused to investigate the 2011 Cantaloupe Outbreak that sickened nearly 150 and killed over 35) into how what he called "a smear campaign" against the meat product commonly called "pink slime" got started.

And, Governor Branstad's desire for a public flogging of First Amendment rights I am sure has nothing to do with the fact that Beef Products Incorporated’s (BPI’s) top executives and workers have given $820,750 to congressional and presidential candidates over the past decade, with all but $28,400 going to Republicans (who are those Democrats?). And, Governor Branstad, a Republican, received $150,000 over the past two years from people tied to BPI.

[CurtEastPoint]

1. Ack! Searching also and I found a photo of said douche...

He just reeks of smarm.

[Skidmore]

3. Yes he does.

I can't believe this state put him back in. That jerk was the one who drained the state's rainy day funds when he was in office and set in place the proverbial bathtub drowning here.

[libinnyandia]

7. He also wants to make Iowa the healthiest state while at the same time wants to gut

environmental regulations.

[rurallib]

8. And line-item-vetoed $500,000 in funds for the Iowa Food Bank

don't want them poor people getting used to eating.

AND**** a founding member of ALEC!

[pipoman]

6. Is that a variation of the V for Vendetta mask

or is that actually his face?

[Enrique]

2. he's the Martin Luther King of pink slime

[shcrane71]

4. LOL... He has a dream that schoolchildren everywhere will soon be free at last

to consume as much pink slime as they want without being bullied by parents, nutritionists, scientist, and bloody do-gooders.

[jberryhill]

5. What have scientists said?

[shcrane71]

9. I believe it was microbiologist who first denounced the product as not being beef.

If you want me to find a link, see above, I'm either woefully inept at googling, or things that I hear on NPR aren't utilizing SEO.

[jberryhill]

10. He came up with the term "pink slime"

But beyond the juvenile rantings here and elsewhere, there is nothing any more odd about it than eating meat generally.

Since you referred to listening to "scientists", my assumption was that you had. What is it that you meant?

[shcrane71]

11. Are you saying that when a microbiologist refers to a beef byproduct as "Pink Slime" that the

scientist is trying to get people to eat the stuff?

[jberryhill]

12. Wtf?

It's pink. It's slimy.

Beyond that, so fucking what?

It replaces fat in ground beef, and the fat is no better. It is animal protein, like all meat. Given the environmental impact of raising cattle in the first place, how much protein do you think should be thrown away.

But since you referred to scientists, I thought maybe you were doing something other than just making shit up.

Do you eat Jell-O? Do you even have the foggiest idea what it is made of? Can you guess?

[shcrane71]

14. Yawn, hooves. My grandparents butchered their own cows in their garage when I was growing up.

We ate the beef that they raised. My grandfather worked for meat packing plants for awhile and didn't like what he saw. I wouldn't eat pink slime, and I steer clear of Jell-O brand gelatin. You obviously have different standards for what you'll knowingly put into your mouth than the majority of Americans do. Free market's a bitch isn't it?

[jberryhill]

15. "Free market's a bitch isn't it?"

A bitch to whom?

I don't eat much meat at all, maybe once or twice a week, and then only small portions.

Relative to eating meat generally, I'm mystified by the noise about pink slime. Again, since you had mentioned "scientists", I thought at long last there was some solid scientific evidence that pink slime presents some sort of documented health risk relative to anything else associated with meat products.

What strikes me as odd about the whole thing is that the level of outrage over this stuff doesn't seem to have any rational basis. Most people, it seems, haven't the first clue about what goes into the food they eat or how it is made. I'm thinking these people would be horrified if they knew where gelatin came from, but you don't see anyone up in arms over that.

The whole thing seems to be a collective "ewww, gross" reaction from folks who are, in general, uninformed about where meat comes from. If these folks ever found out about what it takes to produce the amount of pork that is consumed, and how confined animal feeding operations are the backbone of the pork industry, you'd probably see a lot less "MMMMmmm, bacon" posts around.

It remains a mystery to me why people think there is some sort of exceptional health or nutrition issue with this stuff. Given what concentrates in fat, and given that this stuff displaces fat, I fail to understand what the fuss is about, and while urging that the governor "listen to scientists", it seems that there isn't much science to listen to here.

[shcrane71]

16. Straw man fallacy... that's what you're doing, creating an argument, and then arguing against it.

Nice one, jberryhill. You want to put pink slime into your mouth, then you're free to do so, but only in the USA! USA! USA! We sure are number one. Our pink slime is so superior to any meat byproducts of any other nation that places like Jamaica won't even import the stuff. Fraidy cats!

[jberryhill]

17. "creating an argument and then arguing against it"

I think we can take it as a given that (a) you are not going to provide any science here, and (b) you are simply going to attribute beliefs to me which I do not hold.

I did not claim it to be "superior" to anything, and the rest of your commentary still has nothing to do with your original false claim that there are "scientists" which should be listened to here. It is a claim you pulled out of your ass, and it is clear that you are not going to engage in a rational discussion.

[shcrane71]

18. Put as much pink slime in your mouth as you want. I never said you couldn't.

A microbiologist calls the offal-beef pink slime, his colleagues use that term, and you're upset that it's not being forced upon our schoolchildren. It takes two to have a rational discussion, jberryhill. Or are you going to browbeat me on that too.

[jberryhill]

19. "you're upset that it's not being forced upon our schoolchildren"

Yes, that was precisely what I was asking you about in my reply.



Meanwhile...

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/11/blaming-sprouts-again/

European officials have finally identified bean sprouts as the likely culprit in a deadly outbreak of E. coli poisoning, the latest in a series of outbreaks traced back to tainted sprouts.

This year, at least two American growers have recalled sprouts contaminated with salmonella, and outbreaks of illness from tainted sprouts have occurred so often in the United States that health investigators have a special name for them: sproutbreaks….

The F.D.A. says there have been at least 30 outbreaks of disease associated with sprouts in this country since 1996. The Center for Science in the Public Interest, an advocacy group that tracks food safety, said that its review of government data revealed 45 sprout-related outbreaks since 1990, including 2,500 illnesses. The group said that it was aware of one death, in a salmonella outbreak in 2003.

[shcrane71]

20. mmmKay... people still aren't going to eat pink slime no matter how much

shit is found in bean sprouts. Remember that Roseanne episode where Becky & and that husband of hers move into a trailer and have Roseanne and Dan over for "ground meat" burgers? Becky & dumb husband (what was his name???) didn't mind the ground meat; whereas, Roseanne & Dan didn't eat it. It's just not for everybody.

[malaise]

13. Wow look at the difference here

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20120610/news/news3.html
<snip>
Dr Linette Peters, policy and programme director of veterinary public health, told The Sunday Gleaner that there are health risks associated with the ingestion of pink slime.

"Jamaica imports beef trimmings from several countries. Meat treated with ammonia gas, as is the case with pink slime, is not acceptable for human consumption in many countries, including Jamaica," said Peters.

The health official also assured Jamaicans that beef trimmings imported for the processing of patties or any other product are duly inspected, and pink slime is not allowed into the country.

Most of the fast-food outlets operating in Jamaica have said that they do not use pink slime in their products.

The Ministry of Agriculture has also said that it has never approved a permit for the importation of pink slime, and it does not plan to do so.