'Pink Slime' Heading for School Cafeterias, Thanks to Uncle Sam

Where are Michelle Obama and the school lunch cops when you need them? The U.S. Department of Agriculture is purchasing 7 million pounds of "pink slime" for school meals.

The ammonia-treated meat that has been rejected by McDonald's, Taco Bell and Burger King is apparently good enough for the feds to scarf up in gross quantities.

Officially labeled "lean beef trimmings," pink slime is a ground-up combination of meat scraps and connective tissues that are treated with ammonium hydroxide to kill pathogens like salmonella and E. coli. It's then blended into ground beef and hamburger patties.

The USDA asserts that the extender, dubbed "Soylent Pink" by critics, "meets the highest standard for food safety."

But the ammonia-laced concoction doesn't seem to jibe with the healthy-eating pronouncements of Mrs. Obama or the USDA, whose guidelines were cited recently as a cause to reject a preschool child's home-packed lunch in North Carolina.