Have you heard of pink slime? Well it turns out that a “defamation trial over an ABC News report about so-called pink slime, a once-common ingredient in ground beef,” began on Monday after a South Dakota meat processing company claimed the news report “wreaked havoc on its business after it aired in 2012.” But what is pink slime?
Have you heard of pink slime? Well it turns out that a “defamation trial over an ABC News report about so-called pink slime, a once-common ingredient in ground beef,” began on Monday after a South Dakota meat processing company claimed the news report “wreaked havoc on its business after it aired in 2012.” But what is pink slime?
Pink slime simply refers to “low-cost processed beef trimmings sold by Beef Products Inc.” The processed trimmings were at one time a “popular ingredient in ground beef and were found in McDonald’s and Burger King hamburgers and in grocery chains and schools” all over the place. The term itself first surfaced when Gerald Zirnstein, a former Agriculture Department scientist, “used it in a 2002 email to colleagues in which he expressed concerns about the product.”
So how is pink slime created? It’s simple. It’s created by “placing trimmings in centrifuges to separate lean meat from fat.” From there, “the lean meat is treated with ammonia to remove pathogens” in a process that, according to Beef Products Inc., has been “perfected over years and can produce 10 to 20 extra pounds of lean beef per cow.”
However, because the process is so, well, processed, many people have a problem with pink slime, and the 2012 ABC News report certainly hasn’t helped matters. In the report, which investigated pink slime’s use in ground beef, the trimmings were called “a cheap substitute,” and Zirnstein said that “ allowing them to be sold as ground beef amounted to an economic fraud.”
Unsurprisingly, the ABC report “created a consumer backlash with a devastating impact on its bottom line,” which is a big reason why Beef Products sued ABC for defamation. The company also argued that “the segment and several subsequent reports were rife with inaccuracies,” and is seeking $1.9 billion in damages, though that number is expected to increase.
The trial over the matter is “expected to last about eight weeks,” and will “focus on claims by Beef Products that ABC News had launched a disinformation campaign and acted with reckless disregard” for the truth in airing its report.”
When asked about the trial, Dan Webb, a lawyer with the firm Winston & Strawn who is representing Beef Products, said:
“We look forward to the opportunity to present our case and establish for the jury that B.P.I. has suffered significant financial harm because of the wrongful conduct by ABC.”
In the network’s defense, Kevin Baine, a lawyer representing ABC said:
“We believe in the principle that people deserve to know what’s in the food they eat and are confident that when all the facts are presented in court, ABC’s reporting will be fully vindicated.”
Sources:
Trial Will Decide if ABC News Sullied a Company With ‘Pink Slime’
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