Ammonia used in many foods, not just “pink slime”
NOT AS BAD AS IT SOUNDS?
The meat industry has been trying to raise awareness of other foods that contain ammonia, in response to what it has characterized as an unfair attack on a safe and healthy product.
For example, ammonia compounds are used as leavening agents in baked goods and as an acidity controller in cheese and sometimes chocolate.
“Ammonia’s not an unusual product to find added to food,” Gary Acuff, director of Texas A&M University’s Center for Food Safety, told a recent press conference hosted by Beef Products Inc. “We use ammonia in all kinds of foods in the food industry.”
What Happened with the Beef
The New York Times report details that labeling for ammonia was exempted. And yes, ammonia is the chemical we often clean with - it was injected into beef to provide E.coli and salmonella protection. Amazingly the consumer was never notified! Essentially, ammonia is a naturally occurring chemical and deemed part of the processing of the food not an ingredient. Upon review, I believe you will agree with me that the consumer deserves full disclosure of all ingredients - including the ingredients and the processing used in food preparation.
Ammoniated Fatty Trimmings for Hamburger Patties
Ammoniated trimmings are processed by Beef Products, Inc. This company is a major supplier to some of the world’s largest food producers, such as Cargill. Our fast-food restaurants and school lunch rooms use these beef patties and other related food products for their customers and students. Beef products with less fat may not contain or even be a candidate for these potentially harmful ammoniated processes. As I detailed earlier, the questions are “which products?” and “where is the disclosure?”; food labeling needs to be changed to reflect new technology and chemicals, even “natural chemical” processes on food labels.
Kraft Foods Inc, whose brands include Chips Ahoy cookies and Velveeta cheese, is one company that uses very small amounts of ammonium compounds in some of its products. It declined to specify which products.
“Sometimes ingredient names sound more complicated than they are,” said Kraft spokeswoman Angela Wiggins. She also pointed out that ammonia, made up of nitrogen and hydrogen, occurs naturally in plants, animals, water, air and in some foods, including milk.
Wiggins said that in turning milk to cheese, a tiny amount of ammonium hydroxide is added to a starter dairy culture to reduce the culture’s acidity and encourage cheese cultures to grow.
“It is somewhat similar to activating yeast for dough by adding warm water, sugar and salt to create the proper environment for yeast growth,” Wiggins said.
In the case of ammonium phosphate, used as a leavening agent in baking, she said the heat during baking causes the gas to evaporate so no ammonia is left in the product. “It is quite similar to adding wine to a sauce and cooking away the alcohol.”
DON’T ALWAYS COUNT ON LABELS
Compounds such as ammonium hydroxide, ammonium phosphate and ammonium chloride are considered safe in small amounts.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted ammonium hydroxide status as a GRAS, or Generally Recognized as Safe, substance in 1974.
Ammonium hydroxide is also an acceptable ingredient under the conditions of “good manufacturing practices” in dozens of foods, from soft drinks to soups to canned vegetables, according to the General Standards for Food Additives set forth by the Codex Alimentarius Commission, a group funded by the World Health Organization and the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization.