"Pink Slime" closes three BPI plants

As a member of the American Meat Science Association, I receive email alerts about current events or "things" going on in the meat and food industry called "MeatingPlace".  This morning I awoke to a very disturbing article about the closing of three BPI plants.

Now, I'm not gonna cover the Lean Finely Textured beef, or as the media likes to call it--"Pink Slime" issue, but if you wanna know more about it and find out EXACTLY what "Pink Slime" actually is I suggest you visit THIS website.  You can also watch how the makers of the movie "Food Inc." deceived people into thinking that Lean Finely Textured beef is something bad and unhealthy HERE!

Two months ago, BPI suspended production at three of it's four plants.  The employees of the plants in Amarillo, TX, Waterloo, IA, and Garden City, KS were asked not to report to work, but were still kept on the payroll in hopes of re-opening production.  However, due to a media and social media storm of protest against lean finely textured beef, the plants had to close their doors putting 650 people out of work.

The following was taken from BPI spokesman via email to "MeatingPlace":

“We are making significant progress in setting the record straight and are encouraged by recent market research which shows that consumers are very interested in consuming high quality, safe lean ground beef — which is exactly what we have done for the last 30 years.”

“We will continue communicating the benefits of BPI’s lean beef, but that process is much more difficult than the campaign to spread misinformation that brought us to this point.”

“In the interim, we continue to stand by our lean beef as 100 percent wholesome, safe and nutritious, and we will continue to defend Beef Products Inc. against the mischaracterizations and irresponsible misrepresentations that led us to take these actions. I continue to encourage you to visit www.BeefIsBeef.com for the facts about Boneless Lean Beef Trimmings and for up-to-date news and information.”

On May 25, 2012, 650 people will be out of a job because of misinformation distributed to an ill-informed public. I hope that somehow this will be a wake-up call for many people.  The research is there, the information is there, the public just isn't taking the time to read and educate themselves on the subject!  I hope that you can use the links that I provided to inform yourself and your friends and family about what lean finely textured beef actually is. 

Fortunately, BPI will keep it's plant in Sioux City, NE open for the time being, but with reduced capacity.  The only way we can save these plants from being closed forever and get these people back to their jobs is by buying BPI's products..so get out there and EAT BEEF!

The quotes and information for this post was taken from the "MeatingPlace" article "BPI closes three plants".  To read the entire article and read more from "MeatingPlace, you can subscribe to "MeatingPlace" for free HERE!