Ground beef uproar increases questions about food fillers

The “pink slime” moniker drew attention to an additive in ground beef, but you might be surprised to know how many other foods undergo alterations.

That breakfast cereal you ate this morning and the pudding or chocolate your kids will snack on after school, for example, all could have been treated with the same processing aid used for the lean, finely textured beef that has garnered headlines.

Experts say food processing agents - like the ammonium hydroxide used to treat the meat - make America's food safer, while others point to the need for greater transparency in food labeling.

Angela Laury-Shaw, assistant professor of food science and human nutrition at Iowa State University, said the treatments are effective at preventing contamination and removing impurities from food.

“It's an extra step to ensure any bacteria is killed,” Laury-Shaw said. “They are intervention strategies used to make products safe.”

Call them what you will, some still question anything that changes food from its natural state.

Jenifer Angerer, marketing manager for New Pioneer Food Co-op in Iowa City, said the co-op hears from customers any time food is in the news.

“Some hesitate to believe this is truly safe,” Angerer said of the lean, finely textured beef. “We will never carry items that contain it.”

Besides providing clear labels so customers know what is in a product and where it originates, the co-op has a list of ingredients not allowed on store shelves, from the artificial sweetener, acesulfame-K, to yeast extract, a flavor agent.

New Pioneer features foods free of artificial sweeteners, colors, flavors, preservatives and trans fats, Angerer noted.

Ruth Comer, spokeswoman for Hy-Vee, said the grocery store chain has no reservations about the quality or safety of the ground beef, sold in prepackaged tubes.

Hy-Vee stores, however, are waiting for suppliers to provide products that won't contain the lean, finely textured beef, she said, citing customer feedback about the product.

Both types of meat will be labeled and identified in stores, Comer said.

ISU's Laury-Shaw said she is not affiliated with Beef Products Inc., the company at the center of the processed beef issue, but cited years of research that show the product and process to be safe.

Misconceptions still exist about processing aids, she added.

For example, Laury-Shaw said ammonium hydroxide should not be confused with the ammonia used as a cleaning agent, a chemical that can be hazardous if used improperly.

As a processing aid, ammonium hydroxide is used to cause bacterial walls to break down, she said, noting that the synthetic, food-grade gas does not stay in the meat.

Ammonium hydroxide is widely used in products including baked goods, cheese, gelatins, chocolate and pudding, according to the International Food Information Council.

The process has 30 years of research behind it, and has been in use for 20 years, Laury-Shaw said, with no documented health hazards.

Other processing aids can be natural, such as citric acid from lemon juice; grape seed extract; rosemary, thyme and spices, such as pepper.

Chlorine and lactic acids are used on produce, including cantaloupe and watermelon.

Such aids are used to control bacteria and mold, Laury-Shaw said.

Even water, used on eggs and other items, is considered a processing aid.

Those aids are not listed on ingredient labels, Laury-Shaw said, as long as they are considered “generally recognized as safe” by the government and do not remain in significant quantity in the products.

The use of such processing aids has substantially reduced the number of serious outbreaks from E. coli, salmonella and other foodborne bacteria, she said. “Now it's rare that we see it because of the high standards.”

ISU laboratories test combinations of acids and other chemicals that companies claim remove bacteria from food.

Laury-Shaw said “99 percent of those fail,” and those that do work successfully still need another 10 years before receiving government approval.