The story
Apparently first applied to food in 2002 by Food Safety and Inspection Service microbiologist Gerald Zirnstein.
First known use, by meaning
- from 1951 An undesirable pink-colored microbial mass occurring in the slurry used in making paper.
- from 2002 A meat byproduct produced from scraps by heating and then treating with ammonia to produce a food additive.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.