 It was reported at that time that 70 percent of ground beef sold in U.S. supermarkets contained the additive , and that the USDA considered it as meat . The USDA issued a statement that LFTB was safe and had been included in consumer products for some time , and its Under Secretary of Agriculture for Food Safety Elisabeth A. Hagen stated that " The process used to produce LFTB is safe and has been used for a very long time . And adding LFTB to ground beef does not make that ground beef any less safe to consume " . 
