"Pink Slime" trial begins today... interesting issues at stake

[Pam in CT]

... the defamation case against ABC, for its story back in 2012 about beef scrapings that were centrifuged & treated & sold as hamburger:

 

 

The processed trimmings — officially known as lean finely textured beef — were once a popular ingredient in ground beef and were found in McDonald’s and Burger King hamburgers and in grocery chains and schools across the country.

 

The product is created by placing trimmings in centrifuges to separate lean meat from fat. The lean meat is then treated with ammonia to remove pathogens. That process, the company has said, was perfected over years and can produce 10 to 20 extra pounds of lean beef per cow. 

 

In 1993, the Agriculture Department approved the processed trimmings for use in ground beef.

 

Beef Products lodged a defamation case against ABC, arguing that the story included many inaccuracies and resulted in a consumer backlash and "devastating impact" on its bottom line.

 

Though the incident is old -- a number of other news outlets had already run stories about the practice prior to ABC's, and celebrity chef Jaime Oliver had featured the practice on one of his shows, and a number of major chains were already dialing back their use of it in response to consumer concerns -- the case is interesting to me because Beef Products is expressing casting their suit in terms of "fake news":

 

 

It 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...

 

The lawsuit accuses ABC News of falsely suggesting that the product was, among other things, “pink slime,†a “filler†ingredient, low quality, not beef, and not safe for public consumption. ABC’s publication of a list of grocery chains that sold the processed trimmings led nearly every major store in the country to stop buying them, Beef Products said.

 

As a legal matter within the case, which is *defamation*, ABC will seek only to prove it did not act with "actual malice" and express intention to cause economic harm to Beef Products in doing the story.  

 

Wider public policy issues like consumers' right to know what's in their food, or reporters' right to use words like "slime" or "filler" within their stories, will evidently not be addressed.  It boils down to is it "fake news" vs. was there "actual malice."  

 

Watching with interest. 

 

 

[Anne in CA]

This is very interesting. 

[momacacia]

I remember this story...the pink slime story, not about the lawsuit. Oddly, people don't want to eat ammonia-soaked meat. Huh. And of course it's not shocking that the USDA approved it for us to eat. What's truly is that the Beef Products Co wants their name in the news again for making beef surprise.

 

Gosh, just another reminder that I wish I could never eat out again. Ugh.

[Audrey]

I remember this story...the pink slime story, not about the lawsuit. Oddly, people don't want to eat ammonia-soaked meat. Huh. And of course it's not shocking that the USDA approved it for us to eat. What's truly is that the Beef Products Co wants their name in the news again for making beef surprise.

 

Gosh, just another reminder that I wish I could never eat out again. Ugh.

 

 

I hear you, and agree, but..

It's not just restaurants that use mechanically separated, ammonia treated meat products.  And, Beef Products, Inc. is only one of the producers of this type of meat.  In the US, you can find it in many pre-made chicken and beef products -- chicken nuggets and strips, pre-made burgers and meatballs, pre-made appetizers of all kinds. You can also find it in some brands of pre-ground beef (hamburger). If you see the words "finely textured beef" or "boneless lean beef trimmings" on the packaging, that is mechanically separated, ammonia treated meat. It is true that use of such meat is less so now than 5 and more years ago when it was ubiquitous, but it is still rather prevalent. 

 

In Canada and many other countries where food regulations are more conservative, this type of meat is banned and manufacturers of food products cannot import any product that contains it.