The billion-dollar defamation suit against ABC over its coverage of lean, finely textured beef, or “pink slime” as ABC called it, began this week in a South Dakota courtroom.
In the suit, Beef Products Incorporated (BPI) claims ABC’s coverage misled consumers into believing the product is unsafe, according to the New York Times.
ABC claims each broadcast on the product included a statement that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) deems the product safe to eat.
After ABC’s segments aired, some grocery stores reportedly stopped carrying the product, and sales of lean, finely textured beef dropped three million pounds per week.
The company’s revenues dropped from more than $650 million per year to about $130 million per year, according to Reuters, prompting BPI to close three of its plants and lay off more than 700 employees.
The South Dakota company filed suit in 2012, originally naming ABC News, anchor Diane Sawyer, reporters Jim Avila and David Kerley and USDA microbiologist Gerald Zirnstein.
Zirnstein was named in the suit for reportedly first using the term “pink slime” to describe lean, finely textured beef after a tour of a BPI facility.
A South Dakota judge removed Sawyer, host of ABC World News Tonight, from the suit in March 2017.
Lean, finely textured beef is “a low-fat product made from chunks of beef, including trimmings, and exposed to tiny bursts of ammonium hydroxide to kill E. Coli and other dangerous contaminants,” according to Reuters.
It’s frequently used in fast food, school lunches and was sold in grocery stores across the nation.
Due to a South Dakota statute designed to protect farmers in South Dakota, if BPI wins, the company could be awarded three times the damages they claim were caused, but first, they must prove ABC spread information they knew was false. They must also prove the network stated or implied, “that an agricultural food product is not safe for consumption by the public,” Reuters reports.
The trial started Wednesday with jury selection. It is expected to last through July.
Pink Slime is pretty disgusting whether it’s legally “safe” to consume or not. It’s like the stories from Food Lion when managers had employees bathe stinking out-dated fish and meat in bleach to reduce the smell and microbial plate count from many millions CFUs to under a million. How about “Soylent Green”? I appreciate the fact that Texas Farm Bureau supports big corporate agriculture at the expense of the little grower/farmer/rancher.
Tracy, what an intelligent and appropriate response! And so much more tactful that I would have been able to reply to such ignorance of the issue and also of the Texas Farm Bureau organization.
I’ve been working as a chemist in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries for quite a while. What about microbial contamination don’t you understand? There are high plate counts — concentrations of bacteria — involved in carcass trimming as well as meat and fish in the Food Lion example. Now if you grind or homogenize the trimmings, you can probably kill bacteria, yeast and molds very effectively with ammonium hydroxide or other chemicals. With slabs of meat and fish, you can only kill the surface contaminants, because you’re not shredding the tissue so that the chemical can’t reach the interior. The real question is, after killing the “bugs” do you affect the toxins that they’ve produced after they’re dead and gone. In the Food Lion instance, probably not. I’m not a microbiologist, but I’m naturally curious, so I’ll keep an eye open for information on that subject.
You’re dead on correct with surface contaminants on steaks and in ground products. I’m not a microbiologist either so I won’t claim to know much beyond understanding that in most cases “bug” type and concentration in ground products are most concerning to me. But back to this story – nothing about the product in this article has any greater risk of contamination than grinding chuck roast into hamburger. Following the HACCP plan in place for lean, finely textured beef should prevent unsafe microbial contamination. I’m not going to spend time learning about the fish story mentioned but if there’s any truth to them rinsing away bacteria on old meat then I’d probably agree with your disgust.It’s just a different scenario than the story in this news release.
Marcia, thanks for not texturing my protein. Mr. Tracy, I do see a connection between an exorbitant plate count of un-fresh meat and fish at Food Lion, and the euphemism called “beef trimmings”. Now, I can stand back from the initial “yuck factor” and maybe I’m over-reacting, which would cloud my judgement. I’ve cleaned many deer and many more wild hogs on my property and on others throughout Texas, but the last time I was in a slaughterhouse was when my father took me, age 2, to the now closed Chicago Yards and I saw a steer led into an arena filled with blood and watched a guy in white rubber boots and a stained gown hit it on the head. So I don’t know the actual conditions in slaughter houses today. But I’ve heard stories. And the longer the trimmings sit around, the higher the level of contamination becomes. And does treating it with a solution of ammonium hydroxide take care of any toxins that the “bugs” have generated? If you shred — homogenize — the trimmings, you can probably get down to the individual cell level. But in the Food Lion example, you can only wash the top surfaces. The growths within survive. And those toxins. When a Roman Senator suggested that public toilets be taxed, in ancient Rome, the Senate was in an uproar. His response was that “money doesn’t stink”. Maybe lean beef textured protein doesn’t either, unless it smells like money. I’ve eaten lots of stuff in my life, snails, raw oysters dug out of the mud, raw mussels, raw bacon, sushi, raw eggs, beef tartar and the like. I may have to get used to eating insects sometime, too. I’ve lived in and Indian neighborhood for 14 years, you know, Hindus speaking Hindi, and the neighborhood kids ask me frequently if I still kill animals. But I’ve never seen anything like Texans worshiping their Holy Cows!
I paid my dues to the Texas Farm Bureau last week. My money goes to support “their” scholarships for which they get the credit. I’ve noticed how they support all the big Ag chemical and seed companies, regardless of those companies practices and reputations. Like most every politician in this country, they side with Big Money. I don’t have Big Money. So I side with the Little Money guys, when the Big Boys are trying to pull another fast one. Cheers!
Tracy, you are spot on. I hope ABC et al gets their just rewards!