Where’s the beef?

Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA

The lunch lady won’t be serving up “pink slime” anymore at several school districts around the country.

Under a change announced Thursday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, districts that get food through the government’s school-lunch program will be allowed to say no to ground beef containing an ammonia-treated filler derisively called “pink slime” and choose filler-free meat instead.

Several school systems said they will change their cafeteria menus when the move takes effect next fall. What’s not yet clear is how much the switch might cost and whether it could lead to price increases for school lunches.

“Our district has long advocated for purity and disclosure in food products. And we will definitely be moving to the pure ground beef when that becomes available in the fall,” said John Schuster, spokesman for Florida’s Miami-Dade school system, the nation’s fourth-largest district with 345,000 students.

He could not immediately speak to the cost, noting that the district is on spring break. An Agriculture Department spokes- woman did not return a call to comment.

The change came after a furious online campaign to rid school cafeterias of what the meat industry calls “lean, finely textured beef.” The low-cost filler is made from fatty meat scraps that are heated to remove most of the fat, then treated with ammonium hydroxide gas to kill bacteria such as E. coli and salmonella.

It has been on the market for years, and federal officials say it is safe. The National Meat Association also has noted that ammonium hydroxide is used in baked goods, puddings and other processed foods.

But the USDA announced that, in response to requests from school districts nationwide, it will offer schools a choice: 95 percent lean beef patties made with the filler, or less-lean bulk ground beef without it.

The Philadelphia school district serves one product with the additive — a beef patty — in its high schools only, according to spokesman Fernando Gallard. He said he was unaware of any complaints.

“We have full confidence in the products that are given to us by the USDA,” Gallard said. But given the choice next year, he said the 146,000-student district will consider the alternatives.

In New York City’s 1.1 million-student school system, officials said they are working with food vendors to phase out pink slime products. They said they have heard concerns from parents and food advocates.

The Agriculture Department sets national nutritional standards for school meals, but districts make the decisions on what food to serve to meet the guidelines. On average, districts in the National School Lunch Program buy about 20 percent of their food through USDA, with the remainder coming directly from private vendors.