I had this discussion with my mother long ago because I would frequent Safeway for years before moving out with an ex boss of mine, and then of course moving out of the country, and sadly Safeway had long sold pink slime, and the [censored] better not be here.
This is an explanation (given the research I've done I've found this is a pretty good illustration) from a Chef what it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBkwUt-bqIo
Here was a list I saw a while ago of the stores/suppliers in the US (some of these exist in Canada too) which does or doesn't sell/supply pink slime:
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/mar/22/which-sd-supermarkets-sell-pink-slime/?print&page=all
Local supermarkets that sell meat with pink slime:
- Target
- Walmart
- Albertsons - discontinuing as of 3/21/2012
- Vons - discontinuing as of 3/21/2012
No pink slime in store-ground meat, but sells prepackaged ground beef from other suppliers that contains the product:
- Food 4 Less (Kroger) - discontinuing as of 3/22/2012
- Ralphs (Kroger) - discontinuing as of 3/22/2012
No pink slime:
- Whole Foods
- Costco
- Sprouts
- Trader Joe's
- Fresh and Easy
- Cardiff Seaside Market
- Northgate Gonzalez
The parent company of Albertsons released this statement:
SUPERVALU has made the decision to no longer purchase fresh ground beef containing finely textured beef for any of our traditional retail stores [including Albertsons]. We are currently working with our suppliers to implement this change. While it’s important to remember there are no food safety concerns with products containing finely textured beef, this decision was made due to ongoing customer concerns over these products.
A statement from Safeway, the parent company of Vons, said:
Safeway is committed to providing our customers with the highest-quality products. While the USDA and food industry experts agree that lean finely textured beef is safe and wholesome, recent news stories have caused considerable consumer concern about this product. Safeway will no longer purchase ground beef containing lean finely textured beef.
I know it's a bit of an overreaction but stuff like this can easily turn me away from the rest of a cow, I'm already finicky about which parts I eat, guess that's still not enough.