CR Gazette – The Gazette Editorial Board
—-
No one can accuse Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad of not going to bat for lean finely textured beef, which critics refer to as “pink slime.” Branstad’s passion has been showing.
When controversy about the ground beef additive erupted last month, the governor joined U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack at a March 28 news conference.
Vilsack, a former Iowa governor, vouched for the product — USDA approved and commonly used by schools and many food outlets. It improves the leanness and reduces the cost of ground beef because it’s made from the leftover trimmings from other cuts and the process removes most of the fat. No safety problems have been verified in two decades of production.
The governor staunchly defended the product and its processors, and pointed out potential economic and job repercussions from the wave of restaurants and grocery chains that initially said they would no longer purchase the product.
The next day, Branstad and two other governors toured one of the major processors, Beef Products Inc. in South Sioux City, Neb., and held another news conference. A week earlier, BPI had suspended operations at three plants that make the beef additive, including one in Waterloo, laying off about 600 employees.
The hysteria circulating about “pink slime” clearly demanded more context, balance and correction. Our governor provided a strong, appropriate dose. He should have stopped there.
He didn’t. Instead, the governor fired off a letter to Iowa’s school superintendents, urging them to keep using the additive.
And then Monday, Branstad called for a congressional investigation into what he labeled a smear campaign.
It’s not the governor’s role to pressure school districts on what they should buy.
And Congress has many higher priorities to pursue without taking time to probe the pink slime rumor mill. The trail is already clear. A former USDA microbiologist, Gerald Zirnstein, coined the term in a 2002 email to co-workers. The recent uproar began after celebrity chef Jamie Oliver criticized the product.
The record has been set straight. Calling more attention to this product, without compelling new science-based information, could well be counterproductive. Instead, the governor could focus his passion on pressing state issues such as mental health services, education and commercial property tax reform.
