For several days—and often consecutive nights of reporting—various media outlets reported on the seeming negatives of boneless lean beef trimmings (BLBT) as produced by Beef Products Incorporated (BPI). Most of the reporting centered around the term, “pink slime,” which was given to BLBT by Gerald Zirnstein, a former USDA FSIS microbiologist.
According to AMI President J. Patrick Boyle, “Boneless lean beef trimmings (BLBT) is a safe, wholesome and nutritious form of beef that is made by separating lean beef from fat. To make the product, beef companies use beef trimmings, the small cuts of beef that remain when larger cuts are trimmed down. These trimmings are USDA inspected, wholesome cuts of beef that contain both fat and lean and are nearly impossible to separate using a knife. When these trimmings are processed, the process separates the fat away, and the end result is nutritious, lean beef. It’s a process similar to separating cream from milk.”