Pink Slime Pink Slips

Remember the uproar over "pink slime" back in March?

The company that produces "pink slime," Beef Products, Inc., said today it is laying off 86 employees from its corporate office after the company took a substantial financial hit following the uproar over "pink slime" being added to ground beef.

Pink slime, if you recall, is a beef-based additive that is added to some ground beef for filler purposes. Pink slime consists of scraps, fat, connective tissue, and other animal parts, which is processed, heated, treated -- well, you get the idea.

Back in March, following a series of reports from ABC News, everyone became concerned about pink slime being added to food.  Some supermarket chains declared their beef to be pink slime-free, petitions circulated about getting pink slime out of school cafeterias, and more.

As a result of the pink slime backlash, Beef Products, Inc., is laying off dozens of people today. It seems the demand for "pink slime" has decreased over the past several weeks, even though most of us have been eating it for years. It's kind of funny that really the only reason this story became news was because of the "pink slime" name. There probably would never have been a "beef-based additive" controversy. And as we Americans continue to seek-out deep fried Oreo's, 3,000-calorie salads, scrapple, and pizza with half a dozen toppings, we can all feel better knowing that we're `that much` healthier without "pink slime" in ground beef. Maybe I can add an extra piece of bacon to my burger to make up for the loss.