Pink Slime and the Ammonia Question
When the public learned that “pink slime” — officially known as lean finely textured beef — was treated with ammonia as a disinfectant, the reaction was widespread revulsion. A burger patty made with these processed beef trimmings contained approximately 0.02 grams of ammonia per 100 grams of meat. But research from the University of Michigan Risk Science Center revealed that many common foods contain significantly higher levels of ammonia, including some that are considered perfectly acceptable to eat.
Ten Common Foods With Higher Ammonia Content
The following foods all contained more ammonia per 100 grams than a pink slime burger patty, based on available analytical data:
- Domestic bleu cheese — 0.138 grams per 100 grams, nearly seven times the amount in a pink slime burger
- Cheddar cheese — 0.11 grams per 100 grams
- Salami — 0.11 grams per 100 grams
- Beer cheese — 0.092 grams per 100 grams
- American cheese — 0.081 grams per 100 grams
- Peanut butter — 0.049 grams per 100 grams
- Mayonnaise — 0.041 grams per 100 grams
- Ketchup — 0.035 grams per 100 grams
- Gelatin — 0.034 grams per 100 grams
- Onions — 0.027 grams per 100 grams
Additional foods that also exceeded the pink slime threshold included potato chips at 0.024, brewer yeast at 0.022, and margarine at 0.021 grams per 100 grams.
Context Matters, But the Trend Is Not Encouraging
An important caveat: much of this data originated from a 1973 research paper, meaning ammonia levels in some products may have changed over the intervening decades. However, the ammonia content in processed beef products had actually doubled between 1973 and 2012, suggesting that modernization of food production did not necessarily move levels in a favorable direction.
The data raised an uncomfortable question: whether the public should be less concerned about pink slime specifically, or considerably more concerned about the baseline ammonia content in a wide range of everyday foods. Loading a burger with mayo, American cheese, ketchup, and onions meant consuming substantially more ammonia from the toppings than from the patty itself.
