Southern Lehigh will Pull 'Pink Slime' from Menu

Lean Finely Textured Beef, aka LFTB or 'Pink Slime,' can be pulled from school lunches as early as next year, says the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Southern Lehigh will most likely participate.

In an email to districts nationwide, the USDA has decided to optionalize the use of the meat by-product as early as next year. The change comes  

Southern Lehigh School District also received an email from the USDA, said superintendent Leah Christman. "We received communication last week from the USDA indicating that schools will have the ability to avoid use of these products [through the commodity program] starting next school year," said Christman's superintendent's report. "The USDA stands behind the quality and safety of LFTB, it is safe and has been utilized in the production of commercial and USDA beef products for the past two decades."

Christman told the school board during Monday's meeting that the district is looking to pull the product from school lunches, though it may increase the lunch price.

However, the elimination of the by-product is complicated, explains Christman.

"[School lunch] funds are pooled [by multiple school districts] and then schools order a variety of products from the commodities available. This includes beef products. We have no way of knowing which foods use this specific process [ammonium hydroxide], but it appears that it is pretty widespread in not only beef but in processing other foods as well [baked goods, cheeses, chocolate]. We did some additional research ourselves. ...We will continue to monitor this as more information becomes available."

Though the USDA assures districts that the product is safe, Southern Lehigh is looking closer at the product to decide whether it will be served in the coming years. "We take the safety of our students and their health very seriously as demonstrated by our that work continues," said Christman in an email earlier this week. 

Reporter Andrew Kutzer also contributed to this article.