Supermarket shoppers soon will be able to tell whether ground beef they buy has lean, finely textured beef trimmings, infamously labeled as “pink slime,” as companies reported signs that consumers were warming to the product.
In the two decades such trimmings have been allowed in ground beef, the packages have not identified their presence. The USDA said this week that beef processors could affix labels on ground beef packages informing consumers that the product contained the trimmings.
The developer and major producer of the beef product, Beef Products Inc. of Dakota Dunes, S.D., said that it would allow the meatpackers who buy its product to affix a label if they so choose.
Tyson Foods, the largest processor of beef and owner of the giant IBP packinghouse at Dakota City, Neb., that takes much of western Iowa’s cattle, said it asked the USDA to use the label “in anticipation some of our customers will buy ground beef containing (lean, finely textured beef) if it’s labeled. We want to make sure we’re in a position to meet the needs of our customers.”
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