‘Pink slime’ producer remains defiant as it announces halt in production
In a company statement, BPI president and CEO Eldon Roth announced that the company would be temporarily suspending operations at three plants in Kansas, Texas and Iowa as a result of the recent media and consumer driven campaign to halt use of the ‘pink slime’ in ground beef.
BPI, which is the world’s biggest producer of LFTB, is continuing to stand by its “100% wholesome, safe and nutritious” product, regardless of the provisional halt in production.
The company has taken the decision to continue paying full salary and benefits to the 650 employees affected by the decision.
Controversy surrounding the product stemmed from the claims of two former-US Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists, that ‘pink slime’ – as one of them described it in a USDA memo – was approved for use in ground beef products for political reasons despite there being safety concerns.
Earlier this month, several major US retailers announced that they would end their purchase of ground beef containing ‘pink slime’ after bowing to consumer and media pressure.
“Misguided attacks”
“In an effort to protect our company and its family of employees from the recent unfounded and misguided attacks on our Boneless Lean Beef Trimmings, we have had to make some unfortunate and very difficult business decisions,” said Roth in the statement.
“Today we have announced that we will be temporarily suspending operations at three plants in Garden City, Kansas; Amarillo, Texas; and Waterloo, Iowa, which represents more than 650 jobs.”
A total of 236 jobs will be affected at the Kansas-based plant; 207 in Texas; and 216 in Iowa.
“In the interim, we continue to stand by our lean beef as 100% wholesome, safe and nutritious, and we will continue to defend Beef Products Inc. against the mischaracterisations and irresponsible misrepresentations sweeping the media landscape,” Roth added.
Consumer and media pressure
BPI’s director of food safety and quality assurance Craig Letch previously told FoodQualityNews.com that the whole situation surrounding ‘pink slime’ had been a “gross misunderstanding” which had directly stemmed “from media-outlets trying to sensationalise and build up hype around the product.”
Since that time, the USDA has folded to pressure from consumers to allow schools the choice of whether to buy ground beef products containing LTFB, and several major retailers have vowed to their purchase of products containing ‘pink slime’.
Several major US-based retailers including Walmart, Sam’s Club and Kroger have also vowed to end their purchase of ground beef containing ‘pink slime’.
According to the American Meat Institute (AMI), ground beef prices in these stores are likely to increase as more than 1.5m more cattle will need to be slaughtered and processed to make up the difference.
