- The box I'm holding and all of those surrounding me in the photo are USDA commodity beef. We are still waiting to hear back from them (they aren't returning calls, shall we say?) on where it came from, so we can contact the supplier and confirm contents.They're staying in the North High freezer (and other freezers) until we get that answer. We aren't serving it unless and until we know.
- Not all beef we serve is commodity beef. Some additional beef Worcester purchases, fresh ground, from a plant in Connecticut (and, yes, it's all actual muscle meat).
- It isn't just that they're mixing ammonium nitrate into this stuff. They do that to kill pathogens in the mix (from the outside of the cattle). Except it doesn't always work: "...three years ago more than 50,000 pounds of “Pink Slime”/BLBT had to recalled. The Times also highlighted that between 2005 and 2009, the ground beef bought from BPI for school lunches tested positive for salmonella 48 times."
- As things stand currently, starting this fall, schools will have a choice of getting beef that's 15% this stuff or entirely actual ground beef. Clearly, the latter will be more expensive than the former. Worcester is committed to serving the latter, even it if means serving less beef.
- A number of congressional representatives, including Rep. McGovern, have signed a letter to Secretary Tom Vilsack, urging that this stuff be pulled entirely from the school lunch program.
- I've put an item on the April 5 agenda asking for a similar letter from the Worcester School Committee.
And if you have questions, please send them along!
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