What The Kids Are Eating of the Day: Ruled not good enough by America’s largest fast-food chains, the so-called “pink slime” — meat and meat by-products treated with ammonia — is still A-OK by U.S. Department of Agriculture standards.

In fact, the USDA will reportedly purchase over 7 million pounds of the gunk to turn into hamburgers and tacos for cafeterias feeding America’s schoolchildren.

McDonald’s, Burger King, and Taco Bell were all persuaded to stop using ammonia-treated meat after the practice of rinsing dog-grade meat with ammonia to wash away harmful bacteria was brought to the attention of consumers by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver.

“We’re taking a product that would be sold in its cheaper form for dogs,” said Oliver on his TV show Food Revolution. “After this process, we can give it to humans.”

But a USDA spokesman said there were no plans to stop using pink slime as part of the national school lunch program.

“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration as well as the Food Safety and Inspection Service considers ammonium hydroxide as ‘generally recognized as safe,’” said the spokesman, Aaron Lavallee. “FSIS reviewed the suitability of Beef Products Inc.’s use of ammonium hydroxide in order to assess its effectiveness in performing the intended technical purpose of use, at lowest level necessary, and to ensure that the product is not adulterated or misleading to consumers.”

However, since ammonia beef falls outside the jurisdiction of federal labeling requirements, parents have no way of knowing what exactly is being served to their kids.

[thedaily.]

Anyone who has kids, or younger siblings, or friends with kids or younger siblings: start packing a lunch.