Governors were touring a pink slime plant yesterday, and according to Rick Perry, the term " pink slime" should be a thing of the last, and we should call it, "finely textured ground beef". "Dude, it's beef!" And "it's leaner, and better for you". Ever hear the expression, "don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining?" Well, that comes to my mind.

Did they take a good look at the meat in the beginning stages of manufacturing? It's gross. All scraps. We used to use it to make dog food in this country. That is, up until we realized we could centrifuge it to seperate the fat, then wash it with ammonia and feed it to people. And school children. Why give it to dogs, when our kids are lickin' their little lips, waiting for that cheeseburger on their lunch tray?

I don't have a problem with seperating the fat. I have a problem with the entire ammonia process. Oh, and that it doesn't have to be labeled as an ingredient, because it's a "process", not an additive. I hear the pee comment in my head again. Do we really know how this meat effects the bodies of our growing children over long periods of time? No, we don't. And it should be a choice for me, that when I'm purchasing beef, I know that it has a cheap filler in it, and maybe I want to be the non-filler beef. Not just stick it in there and hope I don't question it.

Jamie Oliver exposed me to pink slime almost a year ago. And I stopped buying completely. We stuck to ground turkey. That was until about 2 weeks ago, when I learned Costco will not use it in their ground beef. It was the first time I felt comfortable buying ground beef. Funny that it was McDonalds who opened America's eyes to pink slime. Most people I asked had never heard of it before a few weeks ago.

Oh, and let me add that at the end of the tour yesterday, good old, Rick took a bite of a pink slime filled burger. I laughed at his little nibble, and very unconvincing smirk he had on his face. I wondering if he even swallowed it, or spit it out in a tissue when the cameras weren't watching.