Is Pink Slime in Your Hamburger? Probably

The organic vs. conventional debate rages on...and will continue to for a long time. And now the "local" movement has entered the picture.

Local? Organic? Conventional? These are some of the questions we get all the time.

And this is timely as we just got our CSA Application from the farm we used last year (read on for more about CSA’s). It’s also been on our mind with the recent story that surfaced on the news about the "pink slime" that is said to be added to 70% of store-bought meat. We posted this piece on both Facebook and Twitter.

To summarize, "Pink slime is beef trimmings. Once only used in dog food and cooking oil, the trimmings are now sprayed with ammonia so they are safe to eat and added to most ground beef as a cheaper filler." Wow. This came from a former USDA employee. And it brought the "local is best" topic to light once again. Let’s delve a bit further into this topic ... not just with meats, but produce as well.

Do you buy organic foods? Is organic farming BETTER than conventional ... do the foods have more nutrients? More flavor? Less pesticides? And, at the end of the day, are they better for us? We always try to remind everyone that at the end of the day, the goal is to simply eat MORE vegetables and fruits.

And in our opinion, more important than organic foods is their proximity to where you live ... meaning, were they picked close to where you’re buying and eating them? Or were they picked in another country, shipped across the world, and are now at your grocery store several weeks later ... and significantly lower in flavor and nutrients? An organic food that was shipped 3,000-plus miles from another country is not close to as good as a conventional food grown a short distance from where you live and delivered, and eaten, soon after it was picked.

To help reduce this issue ourselves, we joined a local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). You can find one near you by searching this website and typing in your zip code. We’re fortunate that we have about 10 or so to choose from where we live.

Two years ago we chose one that was 100% organic. But we weren’t as happy with the quality or quantity. Last year we switched to one that doesn’t guarantee organic, but many of the products are. We were much happier with the end product. Basically buying into a CSA Share means you buy a piece of the farm ... you, along with the other "members" all pay a fee (they usually range from $500-$700ish) for a weekly delivery of fresh produce from May–November.

The pros:

- The food is all local (ours assures nothing is picked more than 24 hours before you get it)

- You support the local farmers

- Your produce is higher in nutrients

- It has more flavor

- It may be organic

- It’s often less expensive than buying produce at the grocery store

The cons:

- You are given the weekly produce and don’t pick, as it’s dependent on what’s in season in your area

- The amount varies from week to week — early on you won’t get as much as you do during the summer months, at least where we live

In our opinion, both of those "cons" are far outweighed by the pros. In fact, we love the weekly surprises as we get to experiment with different produce we normally may not get when shopping ourselves. And it’s a great teaching tool for Ella when she learns about and tastes the variety of produce.

Pink slime in 70% of store-bought meat. Some CSA’s also include an upsell for meats, dairy, cheese, poultry, eggs, etc. Ours does, but we opt to get these on our weekly trips to the market instead. Though we’ve always bought our meat from a farmer we know, like, and trust ... he’s Ella’s favorite at the market ... learning about this "pink slime" solidified the deal even more to make sure we’re getting the highest quality product. Stan—the farmer—also sells eggs from his free-roaming, "happy, bug-eating chickens," as he calls them, and I promise you, if you’ve never tasted eggs from a local farm, they’re very different. The yolks are a deep, rich yellow color from the great nutrient content and they have a better flavor overall.

Moral of the story ... local or organic? Eat more produce, regardless if it’s conventional or organic. Ideally, it would be both local AND organic. But local ALWAYS prevails in our mind in terms of flavor, nutrients, and supporting the local farmer and economy. Avoid "pink slime." Do your body a favor and check out a local CSA.

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