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Internal Emails Reveal FSIS Was Divided on ‘Pink Slime’

A look at the lean finely textured beef firestorm, one year later

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By March of last year, lean finely textured beef (LFTB) had reached celebrity status under the unfavorable moniker “pink slime.” The product—which is made by centrifuging slightly heated fatty beef trimmings to separate out lean meat bits and then treating that meat with ammonia gas to reduce foodborne pathogens —was the subject of thousands of… Continue Reading

Tyson Still No. 1; JBS Almost Closed Gap and BPI Took a Hit

Meat & Poultry's top 100 rankings disclose industry performance

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The trade press magazine Meat & Poultry has come out with its annual Top 100 rankings of the industry’s biggest companies. In doing the annual rankings, Meat & Poultry discloses the economic damage done to Dakota Dunes, SD-based Beef Products Inc. by last year’s media storm over the use of “lean finely textured beef” by… Continue Reading

Lawsuit Filed in E. coli Death; Defendants Include JBS, BPI and Tyson

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JBS Swift, Tyson Fresh Meat, Beef Products Inc. (BPI) and several other companies have been blamed for the 2010 death of a Minnesota man due to E. coli poisoning in a lawsuit filed against the defendants on Jan. 8. Robert Danell, a 62-year-old man with Down Syndrome, died from medical complications days after falling ill… Continue Reading

Ex-BPI Employee Sues Media Over LFTB Controversy

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A former Beef Products Inc. employee has filed a civil lawsuit against a number of media sources, alleging that they “willfully and maliciously” spread false and misleading statements about BPI’s beef filler known as lean finely textured beef (LFTB), a product referred to as ‘pink slime’ by these sources. Those statements, the former employee claims,… Continue Reading

“Pink Slime” Lawsuit May Be Frivolous, But Could Chill Speech

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To no one’s surprise, Beef Products Inc. (BPI) – maker of the ground beef product that took on the moniker of “pink slime” – filed a defamation lawsuit earlier this month against ABC News and several individuals. As I wrote in March at the height of the media uproar and consumer backlash, the entire pink… Continue Reading

BPI and Pink Slime: An Updated Timeline

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In the Spring of 2012, a beef product called “Lean Finely Textured Beef,” an ingredient in an estimated 70 percent of America’s ground beef, came under fire because the meat — which is pulled from a cow carcass after the main cuts of beef have been removed and separated from bones and tissue in a… Continue Reading

Alar Apples Case Precedence for BPI v. ABC

A closer look at the Lean Finely Textured Beef defamation case

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The most important food product disparagement case to come before Beef Products Inc. v. ABC was dropped into the “in” basket at South Dakota’s First Judicial District in Elk Point, SD. Like this latest case, Auvil v. CBS “60 Minutes” involved a food product being damaged by what was shown and said on television. In… Continue Reading

BPI Sues ABC News, Former USDA Officials for ‘Pink Slime’ Defamation

Suit seeks $1.2 billion and punitive damages

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Beef Product Inc, the maker of Lean Finely Textured Beef (LFTB), now commonly known as “pink slime,” on Thursday filed suit against ABC News, former U.S. Department of Agriculture officials, and a former company employee for alleged defamation of its product, which used to be a component of the vast majority of ground beef in… Continue Reading

Former BPI Employee Plans to File Suit Over LFTB Backlash

"Pink Slime" heading back into the news.

A former Beef Products Inc employee plans to file a civil lawsuit in response to the national frenzy over lean finely textured beef (LFTB), now widely known to consumers as pink slime. Sioux City, Iowa-based Rauttnee Publishing Company announced it will hold a press conference on Tuesday to detail the suit to be filed by… Continue Reading

Watch a 1-Hour Webinar on Lean Finely Textured Beef

Over the last 2 years, Food Seminars International has produced over 100 online “webinars” on food safety and related fields.  FSI often teams up with the Food Processing Suppliers Association to produce their webinars and the speakers are some of the top people in the business.   FSI and FPSA has announced a free 1-hour… Continue Reading

BPI, Maker of ‘Pink Slime,’ to Close 3 of 4 Plants

Beef Products Inc., which manufactures lean finely textured beef — the product decried in recent months as ‘pink slime’ — has announced it will shut down three of its four plants on May 25.  The move comes a month and a half after the company temporarily suspended operations at the three plants on March 25,… Continue Reading