Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
Food
Ammonia-Treated Meat Still Good Enough For America's Schools
By
Ben Yakas
Published Feb 1, 2012
Modified Feb 1, 2012
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Ben Yakas
Published Feb 1, 2012
Modified Feb 1, 2012
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
McDonald's, Burger King, and Taco Bell all agreed last week to promise to stop using ammonia-treated meat after some prodding a public shaming by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver. The so-called "pink slime," which is caused by the use of the ingredient Ammonium Hydroxide, is no longer good enough for our fast food restaurants—but it IS still good enough for our schools.
According to The Daily, the U.S. Department of Agriculture officials confirmed that they will buy seven million pounds of the ammonia-cleansed meat for the national school lunch program in the coming months. “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration as well as the Food Safety and Inspection Service considers ammonium hydroxide as ‘generally recognized as safe,’ ” USDA spokesman Aaron Lavallee told them in an email.
The pink slime is made from treating otherwise inedible scrap meat with the chemical Ammonium Hydroxide, which is he same stuff you use to clean your kitchen counters. The use of treated scrap meat "to me as a chef and a food lover is shocking," Oliver said on his TV show Food Revolution. "... Basically we're taking a product that would be sold in the cheapest form for dogs and making it 'fit' for humans." You can see his original segment on the topic below:
As far as we're concerned, this isn't going far enough. Why should all these poor, lazy public school children get precious pink slime-infested meat, let alone the real stuff? Why waste all these abundantly useful chemicals on them when there's a much cheaper, much more renewable form of meat that we could be feeding our kids: poop burgers.
Tagged
ammonia
fast food
jamie oliver
mcdonald's
meat
pink slime
schools
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE food
Where are the cheapest drinks in NYC? A new report details the city's average prices.
The median price of a cocktail in the city is now $16, and $9 for a draft beer.
By
Hannah Frishberg
Published Oct 19, 2026
North African restaurants are rare in NYC. These 10 are the best.
Egyptian, Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisian food is delicious but underrepresented in the city.
By
Robert Sietsema
Food
North African restaurants are rare in NYC. These 10 are the best.
Egyptian, Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisian food is delicious but underrepresented in the city.
By
Robert Sietsema
10 dishes that demonstrate the delicious diversity of curry in New York City
By
Robert Sietsema
Frozen yogurt is back in New York City. So are the super long lines.
By
Sonia Rao
5 NYC banana puddings as good as Magnolia's
By
Hannah Frishberg
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .