Quote:
Originally Posted by spence
I think many people have been aware of the use of ammonia to produce cheap beef Really, this just shows how fubar our food supply has become.
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Lean, finely textured beef is made by heating fatty bits of meat left over from other cuts to about 100 F and spinning it to remove most of the fat. The lean mix is then compressed into blocks for use in ground meat and treated with ammonium hydroxide gas to kill bacteria, such as E. coli and salmonella.
I wonder if the government requires the use of ammonium hydroxide gas to prevent E. coli/salmonella contamination?
As a food additive,
ammonium hydroxide gasis used as an antimicrobial.
In the United States, ammonium hydroxide is classified by the Food and Drug Administration as generally recognized as safe (GRAS).[7] Some fast-food restaurants use beef that has been treated with ammonium hydroxide to make it safe, but McDonald's, Burger King and Taco Bell restaurants have recently stopped this practice.[8][9] Beef treated with ammonium hydroxide can still be found on grocery shelves.
this is pretty interesting...better toss out the burger, the bun...and everything in between
Is ammonia used to produce BLBT?
Food‐grade ammonium hydroxide (basically ammonia + water), which has been declared safe by the Food and
Drug Administration since 1974, is used to produce a number of products such as puddings and baked goods
and can be used in the processing of boneless lean beef trimmings to control any harmful bacteria that may be
present in the raw, fresh product. Ammonia is naturally occurring, found in the human body, beef, other
proteins, and virtually all foods. It plays an important role in the body’s nitrogen cycle and in helping the body
synthesize the protein. It also maintains the pH level that the body needs.
Why is ammonium hydroxide used in processing a beef product?
A puff of ammonium hydroxide gas slightly raises the pH of a product and can destroy bacteria that could
make someone ill if a raw product is not cooked thoroughly. The lean meat is then frozen rapidly. The USDA,
after consultation with FDA, has determined that this use of ammonium hydroxide is safe. It is classified as
safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is approved in most other countries, including the
European Union. When used for meat processing, ammonium hydroxide creates an environment that is
unfriendly to pathogenic bacteria, such as E. coli O157:H7 and provides a significant food safety benefit.
How much ammonia is in beef or other foods?
Ammonia‐based compounds are naturally occurring and can be found in every component of a bacon
cheeseburger (bun, bacon, cheese, condiments, and beef). Between the naturally occurring levels and small
amounts used for food safety, beef may have about 200 ppm. So, for the illustration, we've taken these
amounts and multiplied by the weight of the typical bacon double cheeseburger to show the full picture.
Bun ‐ 2 oz = 50 mg (440 ppm of ammonia)
Bacon ‐ 1 oz = 16 mg (160 ppm ammonia)
Condiments – 2 oz = 50 mg (400 ppm ammonia)
Cheese – 1.5 oz = 76 mg (813 ppm ammonia)
Beef – 3.2 oz = 40 mg (200 ppm ammonia)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...8331B420120404