The Pink Slime Fiasco

Jamie Oliver versus McDonald’s

 Tale of the Tape
Blue Corner
• James Trevor Oliver is a British chef and
restaurateur.
• Hosts, The Naked Chef.
• His first cookbook is No. 1 UK bestseller.
• His television work included a documentary,
Jamie's Kitchen, which gained him an invitation
from Prime Minister Tony Blair to visit 10 Downing
Street.
• In 2005 he opened a campaign, Feed Me Better, to
introduce schoolchildren to healthier foods, which
was later backed by the government.
• His TED Talk won him the 2010 TED Prize.
• In June 2003 Oliver was awarded a Member of the
Order of the British Empire.
Red Corner
• McDonald's Corporation is an American fast food
company, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated
by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San
Bernardino, California, United States.
• McDonald's is the world's largest restaurant
chain by revenue, serving over 69 million
customers daily in over 100 countries across 37,855
outlets as of 2018. Although McDonald's is best
known for its hamburgers, cheeseburgers and
french fries, they also feature chicken products,
breakfast items, soft drinks, milkshakes, wraps, and
desserts.
The McDonald’s Pink Slime Fiasco
Exposing the Alleged Truth versus Protecting the Brand
 Jamie Oliver
Set out to expose McDonald’s of its alleged practice
of using Pink Slime as a meat extender in some of its
well-loved products (particularly burgers).
McDonald’s
Set out to defend its post (by not really
admitting) its use of Pink Slime although it was
a common practice amongst some restaurants
and food chain.
 What is the
Pink Slime?
• Pink slime (also known as lean finely textured beef or
LFTB, finely textured beef, and boneless lean beef
trimmings or BLBT) is a meat by-product used as a
food additive to ground beef and beef-based
processed meats, as a filler, or to reduce the
overall fat content of ground beef.
• In the production process, heat and centrifuges
remove fat from the meat in beef trimmings. The
resulting paste is exposed to ammonia gas or citric
acid to kill bacteria
• In March 2012, an ABC News series about "pink
slime" included claims that approximately 70% of
ground beef sold in US supermarkets contained
the additive at that time. Some companies and
organizations stopped offering ground beef with the
product.
• "Pink slime" was claimed by some originally to have
been used as pet food and cooking oil and later
approved for public consumption.
 The Pink Slime Issue Timeline
March 7, 2012
April 12, 2011 ABC’s Jim Avila airs a story on
Chef Jamie Oliver injects meat processor Beef Products
December 2011-January reporting that 70% of ground
"pink slime" into the lexicon
2012 beef at supermarkets contains
in an episode of his TV
McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and "lean finely textured beef," as
show, Jamie Oliver’s Food the company calls it. The
Burger King announce they
Revolution, blasting its use as a beef/pink slime is made of
no longer use pink slime in
food additive. A USDA waste trimmings processed and
their menu items.
microbiologist is credited sprayed with ammonia gas, and
with coining the term. shipped in frozen bricks, the
report says.

March 22, 2012
March 15, 2012
Grocery store chains
Hundreds of thousands
Kroger and Stop & Shop
sign petitions to prohibit
announce they will stop
pink slime in school
selling beef made with
lunches.
pink slime.
March 2012
Beef Products places an
op-ed-style ad in The Wall
Street Journal to dispel rumors
about lean finely textured
beef. The American Meat
Institute distributes videos
on Facebook that detail how
the product is made.
 The Pink Slime Issue Timeline
September 14, 2012 June 5, 2017
June 2014
Beef Products sues ABC Beef Products’ lawyer
Pink slime makes a
News and Avila for claims the ABC report
comeback as beef prices
defamation in a lawsuit nearly killed the
rise and stores start
that names other company, which closed
buying cheaper beef
defendants, seeking $1.9 three of its four plants
products.
billion in damages. following the broadcasts.

June 28, 2017

ABC and Beef Products reach an undisclosed settlement. ABC signals via a
statement it stands by its reporting.
 Blue Red
Corner Corner
 Round 1
• April 12, 2011 Chef Jamie Oliver injects "pink slime" into the lexicon in
an episode of his TV show, Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, blasting its
use as a food additive. A USDA microbiologist is credited with coining
the term. The attack was directed towards the McDonald’s burgers.
• Oliver highlighted how McDonald’s used ammonium hydroxide to ‘wash’
their beef before it was made into hamburgers, in order to make it fit for
human consumption, without this stage the food would not have been
legal to sell by nationwide standards. Meat that has not been treated in
this way is usually used for dog and cat food.
• The ammonium hydroxide is used as an anti-microbial agent which
basically acts as a catalyst to turn ‘inedible’ meat into burgers.
“Basically, we’re taking a product
that would be sold in the cheapest
way for dogs, and after this process,
is being given to human beings.”
 Round 2
• These claims are partially true. However, what none of the
recent articles makes clear is that Oliver’s media campaign
against the use of ammoniated beef took place in 2011, and
McDonald’s and other large restaurant chains (including Taco
Bell and Burger King) stopped using the product later that
same year.
 McDonald’s does not use lean beef trimmings treated with
ammonia, what some individuals call “pink slime,” in our
burgers, and hasn’t since 2011. Any recent reports that we do
are false. Burgers are at the heart of the Golden Arches, and
the fact is, McDonald’s USA serves only 100%
USDA-inspected beef — no preservatives, no fillers, no
extenders — period. Prior to 2011, to assist with supply,
McDonald’s USA, like many other food retailers, used this
safe product but it is no longer part of our supply.
 Round 3
• Oliver’s sensationalizing of the practice exacerbated an anti-pink
slime furor that had already been percolating on social media since
2010.
• Please note, however, that in spite of his successful portrayal of
ammonia-processed beef as unappetizing and undesirable, he did
not make a scientific or nutritional case for the end-product being
“unfit for human consumption.”
• The FDA and USDA continue to maintain that the chemical
process is “generally recognized as safe” and that meat and
poultry properly treated with ammonium hydroxide is acceptable
for human beings to consume.
 Round 4
• Jaime Oliver as ”secret” McDonal’ds Stakeholder.
• Secretly meeting with Mcdonalds top management and served
as an informal advisor as reported last 9 February 2019.
• Jamie stated last year that he’d allow his children to eat at the
fast-food giant as he ‘doesn’t want to alienate them from
having a burger.’
 Did Jamie Oliver win the case over McDonald’s
over on the Pink Slime Fiasco?
• There is no clear evidence that a case was ever filed.
• McDonald’s clear statement is it “…does not use lean beef trimmings treated with ammonia, what
some individuals call “pink slime,” in our burgers, and hasn’t since 2011.”
• Jamie Oliver might have tried to bully McDonald’s into changing it’s recipe via social media, but it’s
very clear that McDonald’s was not using Pink Slime and the mythical case never really happened.
• If Jaime Oliver had the substantial evidence to support his claim, why didn’t he file a case against
McDonald’s.
• If Oliver’s claim is true, why did the US FDA allow McDonald’s to use such unhealthy products.
• If it did happen, then McDonald’s handled the situation very well by masterfully protecting its
brand through releasing an official statement and not responding to Oliver’s social media bullying.
 Added Insights
• According to a pop interview to a McDonald’s food server and kitchen cook
here in the Philippines who has worked there for three years (2008 to 2011):
“In my personal experience with the products I handled, particularly burger
patties, most of their high-end burgers use only 100% government checked
beef. Also, the company’s meat products are routinely inspected by the
Department of Agriculture NMIS.”
 Discretionary Responsibility - The enduring principles behind our
commitment to social responsibility were built into our culture by
McDonald's Corporation's founder, Ray Kroc, who spoke nearly a half
CSR Filtered through century ago of the importance of giving back to the local communities in
A.B. Carroll’s Pyramid which we live and work.” (This is as early as 2002)
of Corporate Social
Responsilibity Ethical Responsibility – with regards to the Pink Slime issue, McDonald’s
was clear to the point that they were only using US FDA approved 100%
pure beef no preservatives, no fillers and no extenders.

Legal Responsibility – McDonald’s does not not go outside the legal

bounds of US FDA or other food regulating government institution in other
countries.

Economic Responsibility – McDonald’s products are affordable and within

the reach of the masses worldwide.
The Pink Slime Fiasco
Jamie Oliver versus McDonald’s
 Sources
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Oliver
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonald%27s
• https://www.prweek.com/article/1440566/timeline-pink-slime
• https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/jamie-oliver-mcdonalds-burgers/
• http://www.csrwire.com/press_releases/36995-McDonald-s-Announces-2020-Cor
porate-Social-Responsibility-and-Sustainability-Plans?tracking_user=david_wilcox
@comcast.net
• https://metro.co.uk/2019/02/04/jamie-oliver-secretly-met-mcdonalds-years-despi
te-saying-burgers-unfit-consumption-8435309