The state Department of Education has not yet decided whether it will take ground beef containing an ammonia-treated filler dubbed "pink slime" off Hawaii school lunch menus, but is stressing that the meat product is safe to eat.
Experts also say the filler reduces the risk of foodborne illness.
Following a wave of Internet anger about the use of the filler in school lunch beef, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Thursday that districts that get food through the government’s school lunch program will able to choose between 95 percent lean beef patties made with the product or less lean bulk ground beef without it.
| WHAT IS IT?
The low-cost ground beef filler known informally as "pink slime" is made from fatty bits of meat left over from other cuts. The pieces are heated and spun to remove most of the fat. The lean mix is then exposed to ammonium hydroxide gas to kill bacteria, such as E. coli and salmonella.
Source: Associated Press
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The choice would be allowed starting next school year.
A number of school districts nationally say they will stop or phase out serving beef with the product, including New York City’s 1.1 million-student system and Florida’s Miami-Dade school system, the nation’s fourth largest with 345,000 students.
In a statement Thursday, Hawaii DOE spokeswoman Sandy Goya said the department "has been closely monitoring updates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and is currently awaiting additional guidance and details" on the announcement.
"Similar to other food authorities across the United States with schools that participate in the National School Lunch Program, the DOE does procure products with the identified additive," she said. "We will continue to closely track this matter and keep parents apprised as more information is made available."
The department stresses that it believes its lunches are safe.
Goya, in the statement, said USDA beef purchases for the school lunch program "meet very high food safety standards."
The DOE could not immediately say how much of its beef contains the filler, which the meat industry calls "lean, finely textured beef." But officials did say it is fairly common in lean beef patties.
Switching to beef free of the filler would cost the department more, but how much more — and whether that cost would increase prices for school lunch — is also not yet clear.
The filler, which has been on the market for years and is deemed safe by the federal government, has been the subject of an Internet uproar in recent months, after photos of the pink stuff began circulating online. In response to complaints, fast-food chains such as McDonald’s have stopped using beef with it.
An online petition also targeted the USDA’s use of the product. Parents, lawmakers and others questioned how an ammonia-treated filler could possibly be good for children and called for it to be pulled.
Among those urging the USDA to stop purchasing the products for schools is Kahala Elementary part-time teacher Vivian Best, an advocate for healthful, locally grown food.
Shet said Thursday that she is "appalled" that schools are still serving a product "deemed unworthy for fast food."
"I don’t want our kids being fed ultraprocessed food that has ammonia in it," Best said. "I don’t like the idea that we are basically subsidizing highly processed foods for our school meals."
The USDA sets national standards for school meals, but districts have leeway on what food to serve to meet those guidelines. Districts in the National School Lunch Program buy about 20 percent of their food on average through the USDA, and the rest comes from private vendors.
The DOE could not immediately say how much of its beef comes through the National School Lunch Program versus private vendors.
"Pink slime" filler is made out of beef waste products, which are heated to remove fat, then treated with ammonium hydroxide gas to kill bacteria. Meat industry officials note that ammonium hydroxide is also used in baked goods, puddings and other processed foods.
While there are no precise statistics on the prevalence of the low-cost filler product, one industry official estimates it is in at least half of the ground meat and burgers sold in the United States, The Associated Press reports.
Experts say that while "pink slime" filler might look unappetizing, it actually has several benefits, including a reduced potential that undercooked beef will make you sick.
The filler also makes beef products leaner.
Joannie Dobbs, an assistant specialist in food composition at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, said there is a "fear factor" and a "yuck factor" when people learn that the "pink slime" could be in their food.
But she said taking the filler out of beef products could result in more foodborne illness. "You want to make sure that the food is safe, even if it doesn’t get cooked all the way through," she said.
In serving more beef without filler, "you’re going to increase the potential … of having food safety issues," Dobbs said. That’s because any time meat is ground, "you have the potential for cross-contamination" of food-borne pathogens, such as E. coli.
The USDA said Thursday that in response to requests from school districts, it will still offer schools the choice of buying 95 percent lean beef patties with the filler but will also offer ground beef without it.
In a news release the USDA stressed that the department only purchases products for school lunches that are "safe, nutritious and affordable, including all products containing lean finely textured beef."
A change in the kind of beef used would primarily affect elementary students, whose participation in school lunch is far higher than that of students in middle and high schools.
In 2011, Hawaii served 115,700 school lunches daily on average through the National School Lunch Program, according to the USDA.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
