Beef Processing Method: Ammonia

[Deadly Sushi]

ewwwwwwwwwww


Eight years ago, federal officials were struggling to remove potentially deadly E. coli from hamburgers when an entrepreneurial company from South Dakota came up with a novel idea: injecting beef with ammonia.

The company, Beef Products Inc., had been looking to expand into the hamburger business with a product made from beef that included fatty trimmings the industry once relegated to pet food and cooking oil. The trimmings were particularly susceptible to contamination, but a study commissioned by the company showed that the ammonia process would kill E. coli as well as salmonella.
Officials at the United States Department of Agriculture endorsed the company’s ammonia treatment, and have said it destroys E. coli “to an undetectable level.” They decided it was so effective that in 2007, when the department began routine testing of meat used in hamburger sold to the general public, they exempted Beef Products.

READ MORE: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/u...&em&adxnnlx=1262271647-NnDfQGK/s4JT7b JAMQUaQ

 

[CharlieD]

I'm glad i do not like beef.

 

[waybomb]

We use LFTB from BPI. The NH3 injected immediately dissipates into the atmosphere. It is undetectable in the product.

Hats off to BPI for coming up with a countermeasure to a naturally occurring pathogen that kills thousands every year.

 

[Keltin]

Odd thing is, catabolism of protein for energy (as in the Krebs cycle) results in the natural production of ammonia. A cat’s metabolism is geared toward high fat and high protein, and can not digest carbs very well at all. Thus, a cat’s diet is very, very high in protein meaning they derive most of their energy from metabolizing protein which leads to the production of ammonia. That explains the smell of their urine.

In athletes with very low body fat, if they perform beyond the threshold of their carb stores, they will metabolize protein (lean muscle tissue) and produce ammonia….and you can smell it in their sweat.

Protein metabolism produces ammonia, so it’s not surprising or shocking at all that ammonia would be used in conjunction with protein.