Pink Slime No More: Three Factories Suspend Production

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​Pink slime, that ammonia-treated concoction used in ground beef that has offended the sensibilities of so many people, might finally disappear.

The Associated Press reports that three of four factories belonging to Beef Products Inc., which produces much of the popular but hazardous slime, have suspended operations. The firm will continue to make it at a place in South Dakota, but other factories in Texas, Kanas, and Iowa will stop.

The "finely textured animal protein" has been the subject of petition drives demanding its withdrawal, and the Miami school district recently announced it would stop serving the stuff.

Pink slime is used in the lunches of as many as 32 million kids each day under a government program, but recently McDonald's, Taco Bell, and Burger King all stopped using it.

It is made from fatty beef byproducts and connective tissue. Michael Zurnstein, the government scientist who named the slime, recently told Reuters that "a lot of stuff in there was never approved for hamburger."

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