June 23, 2017

Meatingplace.com - Lisa Keefe

After several days focused on the testimony of one of Beef Products Inc.’s top executives, BPI’s lawyers turned to others in the supply chain who were affected by ABC News’ reports on the company’s primary product, lean finely textured beef (LFTB), that called it “pink slime.” BPI is suing the network and its reporter, Jim Avila, for defamation in a $1.9 billion case over ABC’s series of reports in spring 2012 that raised questions about its suitability for human consumption. The case is being tried in Circuit Court in Elk Point, S.D.; if BPI prevails, it could be awarded up to three times the original amount sought for “product disparagement.” 

In videotaped depositions, which limited cross-examination, BPI attorneys questioned representatives from distributors and wholesale beef suppliers who bought LFTB to mix into their ground beef (American Foods Group, Schenk Packing, Birchwood Foods) and companies that both supplied BPI with trimmings to use in LFTB and also bought LFTB for their own ground beef (National Beef, Cargill, JBS).

BPI’s counsel stuck mostly to a set list of questions that affirmed that the witnesses:

• Knew how LFTB was made
• Knew the process used ammonia and did not have an issue with it
• Considered LFTB to be nutritious, wholesome and safe
• Did not consider LFTB to be filler, “padding” for their ground beef, an additive or anything other than beef
• Did not think LFTB was of lower quality than other forms of ground beef, and did not consider it “economic fraud”
• Did not think LFTB needed to be separately labeled, as it is beef
• Believed the term “pink slime” to be derogatory and negative
• Would not put their own companies’ reputations in danger by using BPI’s product if they felt there were issues

LFTB’s buyers also testified to the fact that demand from their customers — retailers and quick-service restaurants, mostly — for ground beef including LFTB dropped dramatically beginning in March 2012. When asked, each specifically identified ABC News’ reports and the “bad publicity” as the reason for the drop in demand, although the executives testifying may not have heard as much directly from their customers.

Some of the testimony touched on the ammonia odor and, sometimes, taste that users had reported. Megan Hobbs, director of beef research and development at Cargill — which also makes a competing product from fatty trimmings that uses citric acid instead of ammonia for pathogen control — told of a taste test that Cargill conducted with a third-party testing company that compared its product side-by-side with BPI’s LFTB. The products were tested on their own, not mixed into other ground beef, and Hobbs said that testers reported a “predominant” chemical ammonia flavor and aroma.

Bill Rupp, president of North American Beef for JBS USA, testified on emails exchanged between JBS personnel and BPI representatives on two occasions, complaining that shipments of LFTB had a “heavier ammonia smell” and, in one case, a yellowish cast to the product’s color.

Even so, Rupp testified that he considers himself a “friend of BPI” and that the company’s processes “help the entire industry” by increasing the economic value of high-fat trimmings.

Rupp’s videotaped testimony is expected to continue on Friday.

Media recording is prohibited by the court, with the sole exception of an audio recording made by KMEG-TV in Sioux City. Meatingplace thanks KMEG for granting access to its audio for ongoing coverage of the trial.