Update:  This morning (Saturday) on Up! w/Chris Hayes they showed the Branstad video where he defends pink slime.  According to Branstad, it is the tone of the conversation that is poisoning us, not the slime.  Branstad’s speech at ISU was earlier this week.  Watch:

fooddemocracynow.org/sign/stop_pink_slime

Action Alert from Food Democracy Now!

[Tuesday,] Governor Terry Branstad and Representative Steve King, along with various proponents of the industrialized ag model, have come to the defense of pink slime. That’s right, that goo-like substance that the Industrial Meat Factories (and now politicians) deceptively call “lean, finely textured beef” or “LFTB”, a ground beef filler treated with a blast of ammonia, is being defended and debated at Iowa State University as we write.

Colorado rancher, Mike Callicrate, traveled to ISU to set the record straight: “This is industrial ag versus family agriculture. We’re here to stand up for America’s family farmers and America’s consumers.”

In case you haven’t heard of Pink Slime, it’s that mysterious meat by-product that appears in 70% of hamburgers sold in the U.S. [1] Recently, a number of USDA scientists turned whistleblowers and some media attention have turned the entire meat industry (and Iowa politics) upside down by exposing the fact that the vast majority of ground beef contains this mysterious substance – and is found in our children’s school lunches.

Click here to tell Secretary Vilsack  -  No pink slime in school lunches!

The USDA, which planned to purchase 7 million pounds of pink slime for school lunches, announced that it would allow public schools to opt out of buying meat containing Pink Slime. [2] This, however, does not give parents and children the opportunity to opt out of eating it at school if the school chooses to buy it.

Enough is enough! Pink Slime has no business being fed to our children in America’s school lunches. Politicians have claimed that this is a “safe, wholesome, food product” and “consumers can rely” on it. Consumers have said, “No!” and it’s time our representatives listen to the people and get the slime out of our food and our children’s food.

Click here to tell Ag. Secretary Vilsack to immediately ban the purchase of meat containing Pink Slime for America’s National School Lunch Program.