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"McDonald'due south hamburgers are just 15 percent 'real beefiness.' The other 85 percent is meat filler cleansed with ammonia, which causes tummy and abdominal cancer."

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We noticed this blogger meme on Facebook and decided to check it out.

We noticed this blogger meme on Facebook and decided to check it out.

We noticed this blogger meme on Facebook and decided to check it out.

Facebook meme claims McDonald's burgers are fabricated with 85 percent 'meat filler,' which causes cancer

An unsavory Facebook meme is reigniting alarm about the content of Big Macs.

According to the meme, the patties at McDonald's are skimpy on real beef and heavy on "meat filler," which the meme links to cancer. Meat filler is besides called "pink slime" -- a nickname the beefiness industry insiders consider debasing -- and made waves with consumers several years ago subsequently a 2011 episode of Jamie Oliver'due south Nutrient Revolution and an eleven-part ABC News investigation.

McDonald's said back so that it pulled the product from its grills. But a meme circulating this summer suggests otherwise.

The merits has been effectually in some grade since 2002. One of the most recent versions, sourced from an anonymous blogpost on Raw For Dazzler, says "McDonald's hamburgers are only 15 percent 'real beef,' the other 85 percent is meat filler cleansed with ammonia, which causes stomach and abdominal cancer."

We wanted to know more most this "meat filler," what identify, if any, information technology has in McDonald'due south burgers, and if it is linked to cancer.

Big Mac smack

Commencement, McDonald's says it no longer uses the "meat filler" in question.

This merits has been debunked numerous times since 2011, and it has also been addressed multiple times by McDonald'due south. In an FAQ about its meats, the fast food behemothic best-selling that it once used "pinkish slime" -- or the industry preferred term, "lean, finely textured beefiness" -- in its products but has since stopped the practice:

"McDonald's The states had begun the procedure of removing it from our supply chain prior to widespread media coverage on its utilise and it was completely removed from our supply in 2011. While select lean beef trimmings are safety, we decided to end using the production to align our global standards for beef effectually the earth."

As for what exactly is in the patties, McDonald'south writes, "Our burgers in the Usa are fabricated using just 100 per centum USDA-inspected beef. In that location are no preservatives, no fillers, no extenders and no so-called 'pinkish slime' in our beef. The only thing added to our burgers is a bit of common salt and pepper during grilling."

The "pink slime" rumor oozed its way to Down Under, also, forcing McDonald's Australia to release a video and tell a concerned customer, "Remainder assured, Dana, it's not true. Our beef patties are all 100 percentage export quality Aussie beef, free of preservatives, additives, fillers and binders."

Despite rise costs of beef, McDonald's has no plans to reintroduce lean, finely textured beef (the preferred industry term term for what critics telephone call "pink slime"), said McDonald'due south spokeswoman Lisa McComb.

Primer on "meat filler"

But what exactly is lean, finely textured beef, and is it considered "existent beef"?

When Beefiness Products Inc., began making the product in 1991, the industry cheered it equally revolutionary.

Substantially, the goal is to get every piece of meat off of the os, and so sanitize it so it is safe to eat. Hither's how the process works:

Nearly 25 percent of the carcass remains afterwards taking whole muscle cuts (sirloins, briskets, ribs, etc). The remaining fat trimmings with $.25 of meat still attached are then put through a heat and centrifuge procedure, which separates the fat and produces 93 to 97 pct lean meat, according to BPI.

Because the trimmings oftentimes are more than susceptible to contagion, the meat is then treated with ammonium hydroxide gas to kill pathogens, similar salmonella and East. coli. The U.Southward. Department of Agriculture does not require ammonium hydroxide to be included in the ingredients, considering it part of the process rather than part of the meat.

The resulting meat has a effectively texture. "That'due south why you lot wouldn't have a hamburger that would be made from zero but LFTB – the texture would be softer," said Eric Mittenthal, a spokesperson for the American Meat Plant, a national trade clan.

The lean beef typically comprises no more than 15 percentage of a burger, which consumers actually adopt over 100 percent fibroid muscle meat, according to Edward Mills, a professor of meat science at Pennsylvania State University. At 25 percent, most people volition notice an obvious difference in taste.

Then a burger with 85 percent of the lean product -- the amount pinpointed in the meme -- is not realistic.

Several meat scientific discipline professors we interviewed consider this product to be "real beefiness," fifty-fifty if consumers don't. That perspective aligns with the U.S. Department of Agriculture definition of meat, which is meat "derived from advanced meat/bone separation machinery which is comparable in advent, texture and composition to meat trimmings and similar meat products derived past hand."

Nether this definition, lean, finely textured beef -- the official term for "pink slime" -- is existent beef, and a hamburger containing information technology could however be labeled 100 percent beefiness. The USDA does non require disclaimers of lean, finely textured beef in meat labels, but some companies, such as food giant Cargill, have opted to sticker their products if it includes this product.

A cancer link?

Now let's look at the potential wellness furnishings of eating this kind of beefiness. Could it really pb to breadbasket and intestinal cancer?

PolitiFact Georgia looked into a claim that "pink slime" is safe and rated it By and large True.

A 2009 New York Times slice detailed how the much-lauded sanitation process backside lean, finely textured beef was not every bit constructive in killing pathogens as BPI said --  even as the meat spread to school cafeterias through the federal school tiffin plan. Betwixt 2004 and late 2009, the production tested positive for salmonella 36 times out of 1,000, a rate four times greater than other suppliers, the Times reported.

The story besides quoted a USDA scientist referring to the product as "pink slime." Gerald Zirnstein wrote to USDA colleagues in 2002, "I do non consider the stuff to be ground beef, and I consider allowing it in ground beefiness to be a grade of fraudulent labeling."

The story raised a lot of eyebrows, spurring petitions and additional coverage from Oliver's food show and others. McDonald's joined Taco Bell and Burger Rex in no longer using meat treated with ammonium hydroxide in 2012, the Daily Mail reported .

But meat experts said BPI'southward production is just as safe -- or unsafe -- equally all other beef products.

The poultry industry has used meat from fat trimmings for forty years, said Ted LaBuza, a professor of food science at the University of Minnesota. And ammonium hydroxide is used in many food products, such as puddings and cheese, and at levels 10 times higher than in meat, said Mittenthal and Mills.

We could not detect whatsoever studies to advise that ammoniated beef can lead to stomach cancer or other intestinal disease. Fifty-fifty if you eat a burger with lean, finely textured beef every day, "you wouldn't fifty-fifty come close" to posing a serious gamble to your health --  at least, not because of the ammonium hydroxide, said Mills.

And it'southward fairly mutual to employ ammonia and other chemicals -- such every bit citric acid, which tin can leave a sour flavor -- to treat meat, LaBuza said.

Chances of condign sick are actually lower with beef from McDonald's compared to a local butcher, who is appreciative to less stringent standards than fast food restaurants, he said.

Our ruling

An Internet meme accuses McDonald's of using hamburger meat that contains only fifteen percent "real beef," with the rest made up of a "meat filler cleansed with ammonia, which causes stomach and intestinal cancer."

McDonald's stopped using the "filler" in question -- lean, finely textured beef or its somewhat misleading nickname "pink slime" -- dorsum in 2011. When the product was on the grills, the burger nigh likely contained nowhere near 85 percentage of meat filler, as experts said most consumers would notice a difference in taste after 25 percentage.

What'due south more, the lean beefiness does not have any documented links to cancer.

We rate this merits Pants on Fire.

Electronic mail interview with Janeal Yaney, professor of meat science at the University of Arkansas, Aug. 28, 2014

Interview with Bill Marler, nutrient safety attorney and publisher of Nutrient Safety News, Aug. 28, 2014

Electronic mail Interview with Eric Mittenhal, spokesperson for the American Meat Found, Aug. 28, 2014

Email interview with Lisa McComb, spokesperson for McDonald's, Sept. two, 2014

Interview with Ron Adams, professor of marketing at the University of North Florida, Sept. 2, 2014

Interview with Ted LaBuza, professor of food scientific discipline at the Academy of Minnesota, Sept. 2, 2014

Interview with Edward Mills, professor of meat science at Penn State University, Sept. 3, 2014

Youtube, Jamie Oliver'southward Food Revolution: Pink Slime - lxx% of America's Beefiness is Treated with Ammonia, Apr. 12, 2011

ABC News, Pink Slime and You, Mar. 7, 2012

Raw for Beauty, McDonald'southward Hamburgers are merely 15% "Real Beefiness", April. 2, 2014

USDA FSIS, Meat and Poultry Labeling Terms, June 5, 2013

Cornell University, 9 CFR 319.fifteen - Miscellaneous beef products, Oct. 31, 2001

Cargill, Cargill announces new labeling for Finely Textured Beef, November. 5, 2013

New York Times, Safety of Beef Processing Method Is Questioned, Dec. 30, 2009

Beefiness Products Inc., History, 2014

Beef Products Inc., LFTB Frequently Asked Questions, 2014

USDA FSIS, Safety AND SUITABLE INGREDIENTS USED IN THE Product OF MEAT, POULTRY, AND EGG PRODUCTS, Aug. 5, 2014

Consumer Federation of America, Argument of Chris Waldrop, Consumer Federation of America's  Director of Food Policy on Lean Finely Textured Beef, Mar. 26, 2012

National Consumers League, The undeserved reputation of "Pink Slime" is tested again, Sept. 2013

Daily Mail, Victory for Jamie Oliver in the U.S. as McDonald'south is forced to stop using 'pinkish slime' in its burger recipe, January. 27, 2012

Associated Press, 5 FOOD WRITERS SUBPOENAED IN 'Pinkish SLIME' LAWSUIT, Jul. 29, 2014

Fourth dimension, The Surprising Reason 'Pink Slime' Meat Is Back, Aug. 26, 2014

Los Angeles Times, Enquire Laz Pink slime is back. Question is: Who's using it?, Aug. 15, 2014

Consumerist, McDonald's Reminds Customers That It No Longer Uses Pink Slime In Burgers, May 13, 2014

Business Insider Weekly, McDonald's Addresses Claims Virtually 'Pink Slime' In Its Beef (Over again), May 13, 2014

Snopes, 100% Beef, Apr. eight, 2014

McDonald'southward, Meats, 2014

Youtube, Is it truthful your burgers contain meat filler and pink slime?, Mar. 2, 2014

McDonald's, Your Questions, 2014

PolitiFact, Don't call it pink slime, Georgia official says, Apr. ten, 2014

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