Fairfax County Public Schools are stepping back from their former agreement and putting additive-filled hamburgers back on the school menu, thanks to students who said the all beef patties do not look nor appeal to their taste buds, the Washington Post reported.

During the 2011-12 school year, Real Food for Kids, a Fairfax-based advocacy group, replaced the hamburgers on the school menu with 100 percent beef patties as a signature achievement. 

"We worked so hard, and we talked a lot about this burger and how we changed it," said JoAnne Hammermaster, co-founder and president of Real Food for Kids. 

School board member, Ryan McElveen, called the change a step backwards. McElveen said the change occurred after students noticed that the old patties appeared to be pink in the middle. The Post reported that all hamburgers are precooked and then heated before being served. The new burgers were served to students in September without explanation or announcement. 

"Students are our customers and we listen to them and implement their request if possible," wrote Penny McConnell, Fairfax school's food and nutritional service director. 

Last spring, the Fairfax schools announced the cafeterias would introduce a new all-beef burger.  

According to the Post, the news came after the school system acknowledged the Don lee Farms burgers contained "pink slime" a filler product known as lean finely textured beef. It is a combination of beef scraps and "connective tissue that is sprayed with ammonia gas to kill such pathogens as E. coli."

Fairfax schools spokesman John Torre said the new patty does not contain pink slime. While the new burgers reportedly do not contain pink slime, they do contain additives, preservatives, and caramel coloring. They can also last up to a year in the freezer without going bad.  

"If you look at a hamburger package and you can't read the ingredients because you need a dictionary to understand it, something's wrong," Hammermaster said. 

Hammermaster said the school system began serving a patty with 26 ingredients, also made by Don Lee Farms. The cost to the new burgers had not change. The Post reported that all-beef burgers cost 39 cents a patty, while the new Don Lee Farms burgers cost 32 cents each.