Somewhere between the optimistically named “lean finely textured beef” and the over-the-top “pink slime” has got to be a more trustworthy definition of what is going into that hamburger.

Americans love cheap meat. Demand for inexpensive beef was what caused processors to devise a scrap-salvaging process in the 1970’s. The ammonia rinse was added about 10 years ago to combat concerns about dangerous bacteria in ground beef.

To get rid of the controversial additive would raise the cost of hamburgers and other products. The beef industry estimates it would have to slay 1.5 million additional head of cattle to make up for loss of the filler. About 600 jobs have been lost as the manufacturer of the additive closed three of four plants.

“We’re a pink slime-based economy!” Jon Stewart exclaimed on the Daily Show.

For sure, we’re a cheap meat economy. And as long as that’s the case, the industry will never really change. The additive slimed as pink slime may disappear, but something else will replace it. Cattle will still be corn fed in close quarters. Workers will continue to do dangerous jobs for low pay. Rural America will continue to give way to factory farms. Food-borne illness will remain a critical problem.

Americans say they want reforms, but they have yet to show they are willing to pay for them in the checkout line.