Chemistry is all wrong in ‘pink slime’ debate

Robert Boyle, founding father of modern chemistry, would be rolling over in his grave. I have read with interest the past “pink slime” articles and have groaned reading each of them for their chemical inaccuracies. The latest article over the lean, finely textured meat still contains inaccuracies regarding what ammonium hydroxide is and what it is not.

The Gazette cites assistant professor Angela Laury-Shaw as saying that ammonium hydroxide should not be confused with ammonia used as a cleaning agent. I believe what she was referring to is that there are other additives to cleaning aids that make them function as they do. The statement as printed reads as if these are two different chemicals; they are not.

Ammonia is a gas having a chemical formula NH3. This gas can be dissolved in that other wonderful chemical, water (H2O), to form ammonium hydroxide (NH4OH, ammonia plus water).

This dissolution process is very similar to how CO2 (carbon dioxide) can be dissolved in water to form carbonic acid used in soft drinks, beer, etc. And just like carbonic acid, ammonium hydroxide will go “flat” if left open to the atmosphere as the ammonia gas escapes. That is why ammonium hydroxide is considered a processing aid as opposed to an additive in lean finely textured beef. Very little ammonia remains in the product.

For future reference, there are local, regional and national professional chapters of the American Chemical Society, a group dedicated to the advancement and to the societal understanding of chemistry.

Kevin Anderson

Cedar Rapids