BPI Suing ABC over 'Pink Slime' (Lean, Finely Textured Beef) Debacle

Hey - it's actually called Lean, Finely Textured Beef (LFTB).

You may have read/heard that Beef Products, Inc. filed a lawsuit against ABC and three news reporters (Diane Sawyer, Jim Avila and David Kerly) and are seeking $1.2 billion in damages for defamation. But you may be wondering how they can file a lawsuit against a news company and reporters. Let's get down to the facts, folks.

First off, we need to define defamation: it is the communication of a statement that makes a claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual or business, a negative or inferior image. In Common Law it is usually a requirement that this claim be false and that the publication is communicated to someone other than the person defamed (in this case BPI is defamed person). (Wikipedia.org)

or in simpler terms:

Defamation is the false or unjustified injury of the good reputation of another, as by slander or libel (dictionary.com)

Basically, you can't go out and spread false information and not expect to be sued.

But what exactly is the claim against ABC?  

BPI claims that ABC did knowingly publish and report misinformation in 11 television reports and 14 online news items relating to BPI and LFTB that were false and misleading, which aired from March 7 to April 3. In a press conference on September 13, BPI's lawyers expressed that ABC had been provided with real factual information about LFTB from USDA and several other sources and still chose to release 25 reports that stated otherwise. The pushing of a negative agenda caused hundreds of thousands of parents to ask their schools to cease use of LFTB in lunch programs and ABC also created and release a 'blacklist' of grocery stores who were using LFTB. That's a lot of negative press in a 28 day period. So much negative press that BPI lost 80% of their business and was forced to shut down 3 of their 4 plants and let go of 650 employees. Ouch.

About that misinformation - let's clear some of that up. Here are the facts about LFTB.

- LFTB is 100% beef. One hundred percent.
- LFTB is a USDA approved product that is sanitized and made safer with a minuscule amount of ammonium hydroxide mist.
- Ammonium hydroxide is present in most foods - cheese, cereal, beer, bread, even fruits and veggies.
- LFTB is 94-97% lean. Meaning that when it is used, the product is lower in fat and is healthier than a 80% or 85% lean product.
- The photo that was splashed across every TV station and newspaper of pink oozy stuff coming out of a machine is not representative of LFTB. It wasn't even beef.

So, that's the bare bones facts of it all. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. I personally don't see how BPI could lose this case. There were over 500 pages of evidence logged with the claim and it's hard to ignore the hundreds of jobs lost and nosedive of BPI's business.

If you want to read more about LFTB here are some good links

Engineering a safer burger - Washington Post article
Beef is Beef - a collection of articles and more hard facts about LFTB
Q & A about ammonium hydroxide in food production

And if you have questions, we'd love to hear them!


So now that you have the facts, what's your take?

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~

 

Pink Slime? Not in my hamburgers!

GET THE FACTS

For your information as a consumer who wants to be educated about what you are eating and where it comes from! Please don't believe the media all the time, they aren't always the experts on a subject! Remember Hyatt's post about the subject? If not, here it is again.

Please post any questions you might have in the comments section.

Enjoy,

Tera

Is PINK SLIME dangerous to consumers?

   The ABC news has recently run reports on what is being termed "Pink Slime" on March 7th, 8th and 9th decrying its use in food production. Feel free to watch the most recent report from Friday's evening news. Before this past week, I had never heard anything about this "Pink Slime", so of course I was curious to figure out what was going on. Turns out, I actually did know about the stuff, as I had seen it produced in 2009 when I had the opportunity to tour the facility where it is processed.

   For those of you who don't know what it is, the "Pink Slime" being referred to is actually "Lean, Finely, Textured Ground Beef" or LFTB, so from hereon I'll refer to it as that. I remember going to the Beef Products Inc. (BPI) packing plant where the product is made and the whole trip really impressed me. To explain, the vast majority of beef comes from whole muscle cuts that are safely harvest from the animal after exsanguination. However, we raise some pretty chubby cattle today, as we prefer the taste of high-quality beef that grades USDA Choice or Prime. In doing so, there is some fat on the external part of the carcass that is trimmed off to be used to make other by-products for food or manufacturing. When that fat is trimmed off, there is a small proportion of meat remaining in the fat and BPI (and others) have an extraction process that separates that lean meat from those fat trimmings. Part of the extraction process involves using ammonium hydroxide or citric acid mist to make sure the product is free of bacteria or any other microorganisms. The mist then evaporates and is not present in the final product, although both are approved for use in meat and other foods as well.

   When I saw this process, I remember how amazing I thought it was that by using our brains and clever technology, we could utilize an additional 10 to 12 lbs of beef from each animal. This is increasingly important as we see the cost of food continue to rise for various reasons, we need to be efficient in order to feed 9 billion people by 2050. LFTB was approved as safe and wholesome for use in food back in the 1990's by the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and the director of the FSIS at the time, Dr. Russell Cross, recently made a statement reaffirming his belief in the safety of the product, which I've posted below:

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Statement From H. Russell Cross, Ph.D.

Professor and Head of Department of Animal Science, Texas A&M University

"As Administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) in the early 90s, I and my staff evaluated numerous research projects before approving lean, finely textured beef as a safe source of high-quality protein. The FSIS safety review process was and is an in-depth, science-based process that spans years, many research projects and involves many experts across all levels of the agency-and in this case, the process proved the product is safe."

"Approving lean finely textured beef as safe was the right decision, and today, it remains a safe way to meet the nutritional needs of a growing population. All beef is a good or excellent source of 10 essential nutrients including protein, iron, zinc and B-vitamins.

"Finely textured lean beef helps us meet consumer demand for safe, affordable and nutritious food."

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 While I am not an expert on the product, I know that it is a safe, nutritious product which is the same thing as regular ground beef, just processed in a different way. There is alot of science that supports this, or else it would have never been allowed into the food chain to start with. I recommend reading some additional materials prepared by people much smarter than I.

Engineering a Safer Burger - An excellent newpaper article by the Washington Post about the history of the product

Q&A about the use of Ammonium Hydroxide in Food

I hope that this information can be helpful to anyone concerned about using Lean, Finely Textured Ground Beef, and just know that I'll continue eating burgers because I'm confident in the safety of U.S. produced beef. One last trivia piece, over the past decade, the number of ground beef samples testing positive for E. coli 0157:H7 have been cut in half, and the use of LFTB has helped contribute to this decrease!

Cheers,

Hyatt