SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Neb. – Governors of three states donned coats, hair nets and goggles to tour a main production plant for “pink slime” Thursday, hoping to persuade grossed-out consumers and grocery stores to accept the processed beef trimmings are as safe as the industry insists.

Three governors and two lieutenant governors spent about a half-hour touring Beef Products Inc.’s plant to show their support for the company and the thousands of jobs it creates in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota and Texas.

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After the plant tour, Texas Gov. Rick Perry ate a hamburger containing the product officially called lean finely textured beef. The Associated Press

“It’s beef, but it’s leaner beef, which is better for you,” Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad said after watching a presentation of how the textured beef product is made and taking a walking tour of the plant.

Beef Products, the main producer of the cheap lean beef made from fatty bits of meat left over from other cuts, has drawn extra scrutiny because of concerns about the ammonium hydroxide it treats meat with to slightly change the acidity of the beef and kill bacteria. The company suspended operations at plants in Texas, Kansas and Iowa this week, affecting 650 jobs, but it defends its product as safe.

While the official name is lean finely textured beef, critics dub it “pink slime” and say it’s an unappetizing example of industrialized food production. That term was coined by a federal microbiologist who was grossed out by it, but the product meets federal food safety standards and has been used for years.

The politicians who toured the plant – Branstad, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, Nebraska Lt. Gov. Rick Sheehy and South Dakota Lt. Gov. Matt Michels – all agree with the industry view that pink slime has been unfairly maligned and mislabeled and issued a joint statement earlier saying the product is safe.

The officials spent about 20 minutes going over the production process in a separate room at the plant with Craig Letch, the company’s director of quality assurance, viewing and handling more than a dozen slabs of raw meat and the processed, finished product laid out on a round wooden table.

None of the officials tasted the product during the tour, but Branstad and Perry were among those munching on burgers made from it at a news conference afterward.

“It’s lean. It’s good. It’s nutritious,” Branstad said as he polished off a patty, sans bun.

The politicians defended the plant and the product, and accused the media of creating a controversy over a product because of the name critics gave it.

“If you called it finely textured lean beef, would we be here?” asked Sheehy.

The officials donned hard hats, hair nets and goggles for a brief walking tour of the facility. The ammonium hydroxide treatment process was not visible.

Larry Smith, with the Institute for Crisis Management public relations firm, said he’s not sure the makers of pink slime – including Cargill and BPI – will be able to overcome the public stigma against their product at this point.

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