Would you like slime with that?

About a week ago, ever-reigning fast food monarch McDonald’s decided to finally stop using what has been so deliciously named “pink slime” in its burgers.

Rejoice, fast food aficionados! You no longer have to worry about eating “spare beef trimmings that have been treated with ammonium hydroxide to make them safe and at least semi-palatable,” as the Huffington Post so lovingly put it.

While this is a large victory for the overall well-being of the United States, we should still have an element of self-loathing for our fast food habits.

The use of ammonia in patty meat started about 12 years ago. We let it continue because many of us took the “ignorance is bliss” approach to what exactly our burgers and nuggets are comprised of.

In 2008, however, the documentary film “Food, Inc.” highly criticized pink slime and many other horrifying food practices we may find a-okay.

So, for four years the American public has been at least vaguely aware about meat that is essentially only fit for canine consumption going into highly popularized human food.

What I find more shocking than the horrifying “food” itself is the fact that we let it continue in our society, and the majority of us take no interest in pushing for any type of betterment.

One of the most prominent food prophets of our time is “Food Revolution” and “Naked Chef” star Jamie Oliver.

The health-conscious Brit has spent a great deal of time and effort in the U.S. trying to help us realize the errors we perpetuate everyday, but we have chosen to ignore him and even combat him.

Oliver’s controversial “Food Revolution” on ABC was replaced last spring by — get this — repeat episodes of “Dancing with the Stars.”

The network backed its decision and said Oliver’s show averaged 5 million viewers while a repeat of the foppish dance competition pulls in an average of 13 million.

Be ashamed, America.

We continue to knowingly ignore a major problem in new and surprising ways.

Many have even openly called Oliver a man bent on using scare tactics to pull the public away from safe food.

While the U.S. Department of Agriculture may call grinding up chicken carcasses and genetically modified breasts to turn into nuggets “safe,” it is highly doubtful that the concoction has health merit.

In fact, USDA microbiologist Geral Zirnstein agreed with Oliver and many others on the pink slime issue and said the ammonium hydroxide agent should, in fact, be banned.

Apparently, it is not all scare tactics ballooned from some British man’s lies.
What the issue comes down to is whether the American people respect their food and themselves.

If we truly had more admiration for our food, we would not allow starlets failing to do some kind of rumba to beat out a much-needed public service program.

And we would certainly not continue to eat this pink slime.

Nobody should be eating dog food, and everybody needs to work to prevent that from happening.

— sjostrow@indiana.edu