Dive Brief:

• Cargill revealed Tuesday that it will now label when its finely textured beef—a processed meat product it has made since 1993 that is used to produce higher-volume ground beef with less fat—is used in its U.S. ground beef products.
• The decision follows controversy last year over a rival product referred to as "pink slime" by critics and comes amid consumers' calls for more transparency in the making and labeling of agribusiness companies' food products.
• Cargill's product escaped the "pink slime" controversy because of its use of citric acid to kill pathogens, as opposed to the ammonium hydroxide used by Beef Products Inc. on its "lean finely textured beef."

Dive Insight:

This is the latest case of food manufacturers changing the way they do things due to consumers' increasing interest in health. Similar demands have been made for genetically modified foods to be labeled as such, with votes taking place in several states, including Washington, to pass measures requiring it.

Previously, BPI and Cargill both left their "lean finely textured beef" and "finely textured beef" products off of ingredient labels because federal regulators considered them to be beef.