“We are taking a beating from the media lately”: USDA emails on “pink slime”
The folks over at governmentattic.org have posted a batch of FOIA’d emails from USDA related to “pink slime,” the pejorative term given to what the industry calls lean, finely textured beef.
Nothing earth-shattering here. The quality control guy at the Cheesecake Factory wrote a concerned email after the New York Times story hit, and the FOIA officer thought it prudent to redact the answers to emailed questions from an editor at Gourmet Magazine. Also, this line from a public affairs staffer made me laugh: “This internet schedule is a killer. I’m writing an article once a week, so no sooner have I finished one then I need to start another one.”
Have a read (pdf). (“Karen” is USDA’s feedback bot.)
