By MELISSA GOLDIN
CLAIM: McDonald’s cheeseburger patties are made from “pink slime,” a form of beef which contains a chemical called ammonium hydroxide.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. McDonalds stopped using the by-product, known in the industry as lean, finely-textured beef, in 2011, according to a statement the company made on its website around that time.
THE FACTS: In early August, a false claim alleging McDonald’s use of the substance, which is made from finely-ground trimmings treated with ammonium hydroxide to destroy bacteria, reemerged on social media in a video.
A man in the video claims that McDonald’s cheeseburgers are made from “beef picked up off the ground from the remains of the cow, parts of the cow that they didn’t use.” He goes on to say that ammonium hydroxide is added during the production process, and that the mixture eventually “turns into a pink slime.”
The video was viewed on Facebook approximately 26,000 times.
McDonald’s confirmed to The Associated Press in an email that it does not use lean, finely-textured beef at any of its global locations, and hasn’t since 2011. Information about its beef is also available on the company’s website.
The company announced in 2012 that it had stopped using the substance the year before.
Lean, finely-textured beef is made by separating lean meat from fat using a centrifuge — a feat that would be impossible by hand — thereby using as much beef from a cow as possible. The description of the substance as “pink slime” originated when then-USDA microbiologist Gerald Zirnstein used the phrase to describe lean, finely-textured beef in a 2002 agency email.
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This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.
