Company Sues ABC Over ‘Pink Slime’ Stories, Claims Reports Caused Loss of 700 Jobs, Seeks $1B in Damages

This September 2012 photo provided by Dakota Dunes, S.D.-based meat processor Beef Products Inc., shows a sample of their lean, finely-textured beef (AP Photo/Beef Products, Inc.)
Beef Products Inc. sued ABC News, Inc. for defamation Thursday over its coverage of a meat product that critics dub “pink slime,” claiming the network misled consumers into believing it is unhealthy and unsafe.
“For more than 30 years, our family has built and operated companies that are committed to providing consumers with wholesome, safe and nutritious lean beef. We’ve created thousands of good jobs for Americans and our lean finely textured beef has made the leaner ground beef that consumers desire more affordable,” said Eldon Roth, founder and CEO of BPI in a statement.
“The blatantly false and disparaging statements made about our lean beef have done more than hurt my family and our companies; they have jeopardized the future of our employees and their families,” he added.
The Dakota Dunes, S.D.-based meat processor is seeking $1.2 billion in damages for roughly 200 “false and misleading and defamatory” statements about the product officially known as lean, finely textured beef, said Dan Webb, BPI’s Chicago-based attorney.
The uproar also forced Beef Products to suspend operations at plants in Amarillo, Texas; Garden City, Kan.; and Waterloo, Iowa. Beef Products’ plants in Iowa and Kansas each produced about 350,000 pounds of lean, finely textured beef per day, while the one in Texas produced about 200,000 pounds a day.
Webb said ABC News’ reports had “an enormous impact” on the company, forcing it to close three of its four U.S. plants and lay off more than 650 workers. Webb said the network also published a list of chain grocery stores that had stopped selling the product, and that this pressured others to end their business relationship with BPI.
Craig Letch, BPI’s director of food-quality assurance, said the company lost 80 percent of its business in 28 days. Some of the customers have returned, he said, but BPI still doesn’t have the customer base that would allow it to rehire former employees.
Webb said the reports created the false impression “that it’s some type of chemical product, that it’s not beef. It led people to believe that it’s some kind of repulsive, horrible, vile substance that got put into ground beef and hidden from consumers.”
“The result of that has been catastrophic for this company,” he said.
The company has won support from the governors of Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Texas and South Dakota. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has also defended the product, saying the federal government wouldn’t allow the product if it was unsafe.

A hamburger is made from ground beef containing what is derisively referred to as "pink slime," or what the meat industry calls "lean, finely textured beef," on March 15, 2012 in Concord, N.H. (Jim Cole/AP Photo)
The lawsuit filed in a South Dakota state court also names several individuals as defendants, including ABC news anchor Diane Sawyer and the Departure of Agriculture microbiologist who coined the term “pink slime.”
The company’s reporting “caused consumers to believe that our lean beef is not beef at all — that it’s an unhealthy pink slime, unsafe for public consumption, and that somehow it got hidden in the meat,” Webb said before the company’s official announcement.
ABC News, owned by The Walt Disney Co., denied BPI’s claims.
“The lawsuit is without merit,” Jeffrey W. Schneider, the news station’s senior vice president, said in a brief statement Thursday. “We will contest it vigorously”
The 263-page lawsuit names American Broadcasting Companies, Inc., ABC News, Inc., Sawyer and ABC correspondents Jim Avila and David Kerley as defendants. It also names Gerald Zirnstein, the USDA microbiologist who named the product “pink slime,” Carl Custer, a former federal food scientist, and Kit Foshee, a former BPI quality assurance manager who was interviewed by ABC.
Blaze readers may recall all of this “pink slime” stuff started with concerns over how the meat was processed. Bits of beef are heated and treated with a small amount of ammonia to kill bacteria, a practice that has been used for decades and meets federal food safety standards. The phrase “pink slime” began to spread after The New York Times cited it in a 2009 article on the safety of meat processing methods.
Soon afterward, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver began railing against it. McDonald’s and other fast food companies stopped using it, and major supermarket chains including Kroger and Stop & Shop vowed to stop selling beef with the low-cost product.
An online petition calling for the banning of the product from school menus drew hundreds of thousands of supporters.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has said the vast majority of states participating in its National School Lunch Program have opted to order ground beef that doesn’t contain the product. Only three — Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota — chose to order beef that may contain it.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Comments (63)
scrudge
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 12:28pmAh Yes…. abc it trickles down their leg every day
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South Philly Boy
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 11:59amI always enjoyed eating a beef burger Slime or No Slime
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nosharia
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 11:28amYou cannot grind up hooves and nostrils and sphincters…then slap a little ammonia on them and feed it to the children. They deserved to be outed and should have the book thrown at them.
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fedupv2
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 3:03pmYou have no idea what you are talking about. Why don’t you research what the product is before you spout hate and ignorance.
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mgh999
Posted on September 18, 2012 at 4:31pmHere let me go to the secret website (GOOGLE.COM) and get you the real facts – this product was meat and safe
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The Third Archon
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 10:58amIt’s a pretty high legal standard to prove defamation against a media organization. They are either stupid, or they have a really good team of lawyers and a lot of money to blow–oh, they are part of the agro-business…well that explains why they have money to throw away on lawsuits that are highly unlikely to succeed for intimidation purposes only.
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00100111
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 11:55amOr they could just stop using pink slime.
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TROONORTH
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 9:07amOK. I’m a little confused. Are they talking about ‘pink slime’ the product or the ‘pink slime’ that runs ABC news?
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00100111
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 11:56amIt’s not the same thing?
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Chuck Stein
Posted on September 15, 2012 at 4:38amGood one, Troonorth!
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Searchingforthelight
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 7:13amWho owns Dakota DUNES? Why isn’t the blaze being sued? Some lawsuits redistribute the wealth.
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JACKTHETOAD
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 6:55amThe unholy conglomerate has it coming to them. They’ve been been playing footsie since some of us were kids with shows on both abc and nbc. Every now and then I pick up a clue or two. Remember the film ‘Enemy Mine’? I’m talking about the part where Quaid and Gossett are exchanging info on their different beliefs. Quaid, bustin’ Gossett’s **** about the only True Beacon we’ve ever had, jokingly replaces Jesus Christ with Mickey Mouse. Think about it. Even the syllabication. Ol’ Walt, under the guise of a gifted artist ( which he was, btw ) has been trying to undermine Christianity for a buck since day one. Ever see any mention of religious themes in any of his works? Nope. That finely trimmed pencil-thin mustache that rode on the top edge of his lip says vanity to me. The fact that he made Annette Funicello (sp?) wear an elastic t-shirt to hide her developing breasts near the end of her Club run says greed (and possibly even pedo) to me. Then, he parlayed his fortune even more when he built the first park in ’55. It’s been growing ever since. All under the pretense of good clean family fun. Promoting we’re and end in ourselves without a Higher Power (more like lower). It might get a little funky here, folks. I believe the Waltster was a reincarnation of Judas Iscariot. The thirty pieces of silver have grown beyond all belief, and the minions are using them at every turn to keep smacking down what’s Good and True. Their behavior, entertainment and reporting proves i
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JACKTHETOAD
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 7:08amt every day. This ‘chain’ leads right to the Grove, and it cost Andrew Brietbart his life. Good Morning Bildebergs. I hope you find this entertaining, because I sure enjoyed the HELL out of typing it. (…sometimes, it’s good to be a little ol’ toad in a small pond. the big ones never see it coming…) I wonder what’s on the sacrifice menu this weekend? How many more lives? What’ll it cost? I sincerely hope all of you ROTTEN BASTARDS PAY FOR EACH AND EVERY CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY THAT YOU’VE EVER COMMITTED!!!! Have a nice day.
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Wango
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 9:46amWait. Mickey Mouse murdered Andrew Breitbart? Somebody should tell Glenn so he can blow the lid CLEAN OFF THIS TRAGEDY!
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TIME_THE_AVENGER
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 4:42pmThe rat packs.Who knew?
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Detroit paperboy
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 6:46amDidn’t abc get sued for blowing up Chevy trucks and said it was from faulty gas tanks….I think so…
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floridareader
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 8:46amAnother misspelling of the alphabet news outlets.
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lefty5005
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 8:52amI hope the company owns ABC by the time it is over and as far as I’m concerned the propaganda based state media can dry up like cattle feces on a hot summer day.
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277Volt
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 5:49amAll of a sudden folks are up in arms about something they’ve been happily eating for decades.
Pathogens are the prime concern for any mass produced food item. The ammonia levels used on ground beef are safe and effective and unless you feel the entire nation should pay twice as much for “feel good” ground beef you need to shut the hell up.
How about all of you whiny dipsticks shut your trap and figure out how to produce enough SAFE ground beef at a price all income levels can afford. Until you hippies figure that one out you have no ground to open your yaps.
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JRook
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 9:50amGood example of what this pink slim does to ones judgement and ability to communicate. My partner and I recently purchase a 1/2 side of grass fed beef. No hormones, no antibiotics, no industrial food diet, no chemical processing. Anyone who tastes it exclaims it is the best beef they have ever eaten. The nutritional analysis of the beef shows it to be superior to industrial beef in every aspect. Oh and buy the way it only came out to $6 per pound, processed and packaged. Half of it was delivered as ground beef and the rest in steaks and roasts. So while $6 a pound is high for ground beef, it is a rather good price for filet, t bones, delmonicos, etc. Overall we saved about 20% from store bought industrial beef. There is good food available in your region if you take the time and invest in your health. Grass fed beef, diary, pastured eggs, raw vegetables and raw fruits grown organically are a good place to start and if your concerned about the slightly higher price to avoid pesticides. Eat less as that would also benefit most overfed Americans.
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GeneSplicer
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 9:37pmJrook
Odd how you failed to post the nutritional analysis to back up your claim. In the future, please stop trying to claim your personal opinions are fact rather than your feel-good choices.
Organics are overpriced, produced by wasteful and inefficient farming techniques and no more nutritious that regular farming methods.
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Rollo2
Posted on September 15, 2012 at 9:09pmSo, Jrook, Where did you purchase this beef, exactly?
I’d like to try some myself!
Or was that post just a fairy tale?
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Rollo2
Posted on September 15, 2012 at 9:15pmJROOK,
Are you going to share your source for this wonderful beef?
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Melika
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 5:25amBy the way, the process by which they extract this evil beef is similar to how the fat is extracted from your milk. Remember when you are drinking your 2% or skim, you are in fact drinking “white slime” from a cow.
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Mr.Fitnah
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 5:23amABC does one thing right in my entire life and they get sued for it. Perfect.
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ghostsouls
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 4:32amI hope they sue them out of existence, and take msnbc with ya
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sacwoodpusher
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 2:52amThe beef industry colluded with the US govt to slip pink slime into our hamburger without telling customers. When we found out’ we rejected the product. Tough, customers have spoken. thats capitalism.
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sillyfreshness
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 4:14amDiane “puppy dog eyes” Sawyer.
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Melika
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 5:02amIf you’re too stupid to know the difference between ground “beef”, “chuck”, and “sirloin”, then you deserve to get sold whatever is in the package. This company is right, it was an exaggerated smear campaign.
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Stoic one
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 6:43amSACWOODPUSHER
Interesting name…so do you push your wood into your sac? ahh…………. never mind..
If you are truly concerned…read the boxes & cans & bottles on a grocery shelf. and bring a dictionary.
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Mr.Fitnah
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 8:34amYou are still getting it in one form or another if you eat fast food.
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wishley
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 9:45amI’m a beef producer in Missouri and I wouldn’t want to eat this product. However, I don’t eat cheap hot dogs or bologna, either. I do think the media has blown this out of proportion, but it wouldn’t be nearly as alarming if people would actually care more about the food that goes goes into their mouth and where it comes from.
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syjere
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 1:35amI’m here in Serbia and they don’t mess with their food, and I’m a happier camper for it.America does disgusting things to its food in the name of ‘safety.’ It needs to stop…seriously.My grocery bill will be a fortune when I get home.
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lefty5005
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 8:55amConsidering the food you eat probably came from America I wouldn’t be so condescending. If America did not export food 1/4 of the world would starve to death including much of Europe.
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PapaJohannesPatriot
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 1:30amI’d be interested in getting a pound of the pure product. There are processed meats that use a lot of odds and ends, and I don’t hear anyone complaining about them.
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Melika
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 5:03amSlim Jim beef jerky is made from eyeballs. I don’t imagine that will stop people from eating it.
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Melika
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 5:24amBeef trimmings and ammonia are NOT TOXIC WASTE SUBSTANCES. Ammonia is necessary to your continued existence in this world. Confusing the miniscule amount of ammonia hydroxide gas used to kill pathogens and what you find in a bottle is like declaring oxygen a dangerous chemical because its explosive and will kill you if inhaled. The safety concerns with this product isn’t from the ammonia hydroxide (an all natural substance necessary to all life), it is with the amount of pathogens killed because pre-ground products have much more surface area for a pathogen to make a home.
Big Organic has been trying to destroy good American companies for years with their scare tactics in order to rake in HUGE profits from gullible, uninformed consumers. “Organic” simply means they use the same chemicals as other companies, but use simple names like “extract of oranges” or “jojoba oil”.
EVERYTHING on the planet is a CHEMICAL. When you eat your “wholesome” organic beef, you are eating chemicals, even ammonia since it is present in all life forms (yes, plants contain this dangerous chemical too). Your evil body produces ammonia. If you don’t want to ingest “chemicals”, stop eating. Ultimately you’ll have to stop living, but then you’ll be putting more dangerous chemicals into the environment.
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yougottabekidding
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 5:56amEat more scrapple
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listeninginVT
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 1:08amSo this lawsuit is over Telling the eating public about the massively disgusting and gross ‘pink slime’ ‘additive’ that was formerly TOXIC WASTE PRODUCT they had to pay to dispose of, that they bathe in Bleach or ammonia and other chemicals that are not to be eaten. Saw the process on another site many months ago, hidden camera type of thing, when this story first became public. I wish that was the worst in the food industry, unfortunately it is Not. And the intimidation through a trial and the $$$ spent by dragging it out with the intent of bankrupting or just causing huge financial loss is the new avenue to the exposed big pharma/chemical companies for this very type of crap. The truth comes out, and they go after the ‘whistle-blowers’. but honestly, I’ve no idea why ABC is getting sued, they were not the first to do the story on this, maybe the singled out this company or something. don’t know. buy local, buy organic, cause you really don’t know what is in any food any more, and it is making you sick.
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GeneSplicer
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 9:38pmToxic waste product? And your source to backup this claim would be?
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christos
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 12:37am…Speaking the Truth does not invite a law suit Deception does,these Pink Slime Producers should by law be made to inform people of their Processing Practices so people can make an informed decision,or volunteering this information on their labels,but of course many consumers may not choose to eat Pink Slime,In my opinion it is not fit for human consumption & Pink Slime is Disgusting.
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Stoic one
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 6:56amHow about :hot dogs, baloney, & sausage?
I think ONIONS are disgusting. EWE they grow in the ground! ( actually I have a self diagnosed allergy, and simply avoid them [like the plague] )
If people truly want to be informed, then all they have to do is get off social media and do some research.
Many things done in our food supply chain are disgusting to some one.
Do you know how many rat hairs are allowed per what unit of PEANUT BUTTER???????????? (I do)
If you do not trust/like mainstream food for whatever reason … grow your own.
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bigdaddyt46
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 7:17am@stoic
then you have your filth, what the government allows a certain level of what the call filth. thaqt includes rodent hais, roach droppings, bug parts.
i think in the future they’ll advertise just like cigaretts. low tar, low nicotine. yes we have less roach droppings than the other leading brands.
George Carlin from Toledo Window Box
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fedupv2
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 3:10pmDid you research it before you made an opinion or just believe abc? Me thinks the latter.
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mikellyusabr
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 12:29amI can’t speak for others, but I do know my problem with pink slime. It has nothing to do with nutritional value. I have no problem eating it when I need to cut expenses. But I want to choose what I put in my body and when.
Beef Products Inc. had convinced everyone, from fast food companies to supermarkets, to put pink slime in normal ground beef without telling the consumer. They just let people think they were getting normal cuts of beef ground up while sneaking this stuff in.
It ticks me off when they do that. I think it ticked off a lot of other people, too.
Beef Products Inc. learned a hard lesson about what happens when you deceive customers and get found out.
Now it’s crying to the courts.
Boo hoo.
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KangarooJack
Posted on September 13, 2012 at 11:31pmOne can only hope that 79% of the 80% of employees laid off will go back to Mexico. Pink Slime is an accurate term. Bits n pieces of a beef carcass? + ammonia= eeewww.
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WAKEUPUSA2012
Posted on September 13, 2012 at 11:13pmI dont eat pimk slime. Nor do I eat GMO’s. You shouldnt either. Free range grass feed cows, not GMO medecine filled cows.
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sparkyrules
Posted on September 13, 2012 at 11:06pmI hope a jury brings ABC and affiliates to their knees.It was a smear job and ABC needs to pay.
I love sliced pink slime/baloney and tomato sandwiches with Miracle Whip in the Summer.Or anytime.Rush Limbaugh might not haved liked it,but many of us love it.
A staple of American life.And Moochelle Obama can eat her nasty watercress on a bun.I’ll take my bologna sandwich anyday
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sillyfreshness
Posted on September 13, 2012 at 11:16pmI’m sure Diane “puppy dog eyes” Sawyer won’t be too happy about this…..
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mattmo79
Posted on September 13, 2012 at 11:24pmGood about time someone stands up and holds these irresponsible newscasters accountable!
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Winedude
Posted on September 13, 2012 at 11:52pmIf voting for the GOP is the “path to prosperity”, why are the most GOP leaning states the fattest, the poorest and most un-educated?
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DOra Glasberg
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 12:00amIt should not be served to growing school kids by schools.
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DEFCON4
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 12:05am@Sparky, had to reply on the baloney ,tomato ,Miracle-whip sandwhices in the Summer!
I add some American cheese ,sour cream-chive chips ,and wash it down with some slow-brewed iced tea !
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Dont-hate-on-me-2
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 12:07amOne thing I would like to say is that if it was an additive to fresh ground beef, why isnt it labled as such. IMO it was creepy to hide that info. When I buy meat fresh from the butcher I assumed it was ground fresh. That is what I was told. Then I find out it came to there store pre ground with additives. That is just shady. Other than that I could care less.
Hey winedude. Have you been to Calli recently. I would’nt be able to count all the fat ppl here. Not that it’s bad. I think you should show some proof that you speak the truth. Other wise you are a troll. I’m pretty sure everyone fells the same
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RepubliCorp
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 12:20ambeef by-products AKA dog and cat food………. they want money for being exposed
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Winedude
Posted on September 13, 2012 at 11:02pmSince the New York Times used this term in a story in 2009, why aren’t these folks going after the NYT? Because Disney has deeper pockets, they’re the ones getting sued. I notice that I’m still able to buy extremely lean ground beef, so the product isn’t absolutely necessary for its production. These producers just got caught on the wrong side of history. It probably is absolutely safe and possibly even quite pure. However, MOST (not all) Americans don’t want to eat the beef by-products.
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DOra Glasberg
Posted on September 13, 2012 at 10:56pmI love ammonia in my ‘beef’ from parts of cows no one even heard of.
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moty91
Posted on September 13, 2012 at 10:55pmI hope that BPI gets some compensation from ABC for the slander about their product. For a company that actually adds value and efficiency to the economy by saving every last bit of beef it is disgraceful that the ignorant media could destroy that great company.
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BasketFullOfPuppies
Posted on September 13, 2012 at 11:41pmPeople have gotten used to “cheap food”. But, as more people become more aware of how their food is processed in order to make it cheap, there is going to be a backlash. The thing is this… Would your rather eat fresh and more costly beef, or would you be willing to pay a little less to eat beef that has been treated with ammonia? For a lot of people, they would pay more for the more pure product. After that, it becomes simple supply and demand.
As for the idea that it is safe because the government says it is safe, I would simply ask you to search for all of the drugs that have been pulled from the market after causing unforeseen side effects, such as death. Some of us don’t trust the government to tell us that the sky is blue, and for good reason… they have taken it upon themselves to determine what is good and bad, and they have been proven wrong time and again. Making a mistake with a drug is one thing. You can decide whether or not you want to accept that risk. But, when you futz around with the food supply, mistakes are intolerable. So, I choose to eat what I wish to eat. Whether the courts recognize it as my right is immaterial. I will hold it as my right until someone bigger than me takes it away.
Most of the problem that people have with this product, is that they were unaware of how it was processed, and when they found out, they didn’t like it. Welcome to America and free enterprise.
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nobull14
Posted on September 13, 2012 at 10:52pmI hope they take ABC / Disney for everything they can !!!!!.
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