Remember the Pink Slime Bru-ha-ha with ABC News ?

[surepip]

As I recall it started with Jamie whats-his-name from the English cooking show, and the ABC did an expose, but got a lot of facts wrong, including showing video footage of what they "Called" Pink Slime which actually was a total different product not used in Edible ground beef.

 

But ABC kept it on the news until they broke the company and shut down 75% of thgeir production, costing a lot of jobs and one hell of a lot of money. And made the price of ground beef go up as well.

 

I am curious to see how ABC and their fake news do with this.

 

The case brought by Beef Products against ABC News will be heard before a South Dakota court. Litigation was initiated by the company which was forced to close 3 out of 4 plants producing Lean Finely Textured Beef (LFTB) in 2012 when the product was effectively destroyed by the ABC “documentary”.

Although the case against television host and commentator, Diane Sawyer was dismissed, ABC News and journalist Jim Avila will have to defend the action.

 

 

According to an article by Peg Brickley in the Wednesday March 15^th edition of the Wall Street Journal, ABC News alleged that they were within their 1^st Amendment Rights to produce and air the program which Judge Cheryle Gering characterized as “reckless and engaged in purposeful avoidance of the truth”. J. Erik Connolloy an attorney representing beef products was stronger in his criticism of the ABC News program alleging that it was “fake news”.

LFTB which was included in the majority of ground beef sold in 2012 was approved by the USDA and was regarded as a nutritious source of protein. The process by which it was manufactured including treatment with ammonia rendered the product free of pathogens and preserved amino acid availability.

The lawsuit if successful should reestablish the image of LFTB which was derided in the program using the descriptor “pink slime” Damages should provide the shareholders of the company with compensation for their losses and should act as a deterrent to media pursuing “negative-spin stories”. The program based on the alleged anti-meat bias by Jim Avila, if repudiated by the courts might prevent some future program directed against the broiler or turkey industries.

Postings in 2012 and 2014 on the case can be accessed by entering “pink slime” or “LFTB” in the SEARCH feature.

 

 

[LisaC]

I saw that article. I'm guessing serious settlement negotiations are going to happen.

[rockysmom]

If it's fake, ABC should pay for the damages. I didnt pay much attention cause I never buy "ground beef." It's either a piece of chuck which I grind myself or it's ground chuck.

[surepip]

If it's fake, ABC should pay for the damages. I didnt pay much attention cause I never buy "ground beef." It's either a piece of chuck which I grind myself or it's ground chuck.

The meat producers used this stuff to add fat and lean meat to ground beef and other mixtures [meatballs, meatloaf, etc.] They would chemically strip the remaining fat and meat from the bones, process them, and then mix them in like 8-10% with the chuck, round or whatever to make the ground beef. The actual product is not bad looking at all, and is edible "as-is", but the industry found the best use was to add it as a filler for ground beef. It is 100% beef.

 

The photos of the stream of product coming out of a grinder is another product entirely, and ABC refused to take back the story and apologize. IBP is the world's largest meat supplier, and is a part of the Tyson group of companies [Hillshire, Tyson Chicken, etc.] and I think they have the pockets to match ABC lawyer dollar for lawyer dollar. This should be interesting.

 

And the cheeky English Chef young man who started it all may end up with the short end of the stick.