If you’ve ever stopped at a convenience store for a quick snack you’ve probably purchased—or at least thought about purchasing—at least one Slim Jim in your life. The Slim Jim is known as the ultimate portable snack; it’s made of meat and is designed to keep you full while you’re on the go whether it’s a long car ride or a day at work. But what’s in it? The answer is a little more complicated than you might think.
| Channel | Publish Date | Thumbnail & View Count | Actions |
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 WIRED | 2014-06-06 04:00:54 |  558,060 Views |
What's inside: a Slim Jim-WIRED
This popular snack was invented in the 1940s as a bar snack to pair with drinks. In 1967 the brand was sold to General Mills for about $20 million. While Slim Jims are primarily made with beef—though not the kind you’d use for a perfect steak—there’s more going on on the production line that you should know about. Essentially they’re made with low-quality beef pork chicken (but not the white meat you grill at home) and other fillers like corn and wheat protein. Slim Jims are mass-produced at ConAgra Foods’ Troy Ohio plant which produces nearly a billion of the salty snacks each year.
Slim Jims are considered processed meats meaning they are made from lower-quality beef than what you would find at the grocery store. Processed meats typically include one of three types of meat: canner utility and cutter. All three fall into the lowest-grade category. Utility meats are typically used for frozen or canned meals while some sources claim that cutter and canner meats are used in animal feed. However the exact type of processed beef that Slim Jims use is unknown. These cuts typically come from older cows with less desirable meat.
The beef is supplemented with a little pork and something called mechanically separated chicken. According to the USDA this is made "by forcing bones with edible meat attached through a sieve or similar device under high pressure to separate the bone from the edible meat tissue." The result is a paste-like substance sometimes used in hot dogs and nuggets — and Slim Jims.
