The Chain Gang

Wendy’s Congratulates Itself on Never Serving You Pink Slime

Where's the slime?
Where’s the slime? Photo: Francois Nascimbeni/Getty Images

We’re all winners now that pink slime is eroding from our markets, schools, and burger chains. But Wendy’s, not content to be the new number two (heh) in the world of fast food, would like you to know that when it comes to shunning the chemically-processed bricks of beef scrap, it’s long been number one. The company is running an advertisement today in eight major papers to let everyone know it has never employed the re-engineered beef scraps in its square-shaped burgers, unlike McDonald’s and Burger King, after customers questioned the chain’s stance on the stuff.

Like Taco Bell’s public letter defending its own beef, Wendy’s insists in the print ad:

We use nothing but pure, fresh, frozen 100 percent North American beef. We’ve never used fillers, additives, preservatives, flavor boosters or ammonia treatments. We’ve never used “pink slime” and we never will. That’s our promise to you. That’s Wendy’s way.

It’s surely nothing but a comfort that at least one burger giant had the compassion to not dose the country with meat filler, but did they have to be so smug about it? More importantly, wouldn’t this have been the ideal chance to bring back its classic eighties spot, sending some nice old lady into Wendy’s to ask, “Where’s the pink slime?!”

Wendy’s ads: We’ve never used ‘pink slime’ [NRN]

Wendy’s Congratulates Itself on Never Serving You Pink Slime