Manhattan Borough President Stringer today called on the New York City Department of Education to follow the lead of other municipalities and immediately remove ammonia treated meat byproducts – known as “pink slime” -- from public school lunches. A recent U.S. Department of Agriculture decision now allows schools buying food for government-subsidized school lunch programs to purchase only non-ammonia treated beef, starting in the fall of 2012, an option not previously available.

In a letter to Chancellor Dennis Walcott, Stringer demanded that the DOE move swiftly to lay out a comprehensive and transparent action plan for removing pink slime from all school foods. While other cities like Boston have immediately suspended service of all beef containing pink slime, the DOE has said only that they will work to phase out the ammonia treated meat byproduct over time. The agency has not disclosed if it has been serving meat from vendors that use pink slime, or how long the phase-out process will take.

In addition to calling for the removal of all beef that contains pink slime from school lunches, the Borough President demanded that the DOE disclose its plan and timeline for a phase-out, as well as information about existing contracts with vendors that use the controversial additive. He noted that even many fast food chains have already made the decision to dump pink slime from their beef products

“When New York City lags behind McDonalds and Taco Bell in their standards for food quality, you know something’s awry,” said Borough President Stringer. “The Department of Education must end this repellant practice now—and the first thing they can do is to pull it from the shelves today. I cannot think of a more important issue than the health of our 1.1 million public school students, and that’s why I’m calling on DOE to act today."

Pink Slime is a low-cost filler made from fatty scraps of beef left over from cuts typically thrown away. The meat and fat are separated by extreme heat, pushed through a tub, and treated with ammonia hydroxide, used to kill bacteria such as E. Coli and salmonella. Use of the substance in human food is banned altogether in countries like the United Kingdom. Fast food chains including McDonalds and Taco Bell recently terminated their use of pink slime laced beef, citing concerns about food quality standards. Currently, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration does not require that the substance be disclosed as an ingredient in nutritional information listings.