Most states ordering beef for next school year’s lunches are choosing varieties made without “pink slime,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.
Only three states—Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota—opted for ground beef products made with the substance, formally known as lean, finely textured beef, which is made from beef-fat trimmings treated with ammonia. The company that makes the product, Beef Products Inc., is based in Sioux City, S.D., and has operated in Nebraska and Iowa. As of May 18, states had requested more than 20 million pounds of the more-expensive ground beef products without lean, finely textured beef for the 2012-13 school year, and about 1 million pounds of beef products that may contain the product, the USDA said. According to the USDA’s latest school-food-purchase study, about 60 percent of the ground beef acquired by schools was from the USDA.
