>>You were buying ground beef with this filler added (up to around 25% or so). <<
Get in real close and read the label. The 25% is fat. The rest is BEEF. The parts that they couldn’t get from between the bones, the less desirable cuts and then it’s all chopped up, treated for E. Coli and packaged in those cute tubes.
It’s BEEF.
Probably has a bit more gelatin, not that that’s a bad thing at all. I’m sure Americans as a whole would be better off eating a little gelatin....
No, "lean, finely textured beef" product is being added to ground beef as a filler. FILLER. What aren't you getting about this? The 25% isn't fat. It is the approximate amount of "lean, finely textured beef" added to the 75% ground beef made the old fashioned way.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46833528/ns/local_news-fort_wayne_in/t/kroger-no-longer-sell-ground-beef-containing-pink-slime/
Kroger No Longer to Sell Ground Beef Containing Pink Slime
Supermarket chains Kroger Co. and Stop & Shop say they’ll be joining the growing list of store chains that will no longer sell beef that includes an additive "pink slime."
See the words consistently used? Containing, Additive, Filler. Is it making sense now? You aren't buying a tube of "lean, finely textured beef". The stuff is added into ground beef made the way most consumers assumed. It is beef, it is probably safe, but the process is very unappetizing and people are simply rejecting it. They'd have avoided it all along if they'd known.