Beef Industry Fights Pink Slime Backlash

Beef Products Inc., the main manufacturer and inventor of the filler, is waging a public-relations campaign to convince consumers that the product is not harmful and is essential to the industry.

Grass-roots pressure on the product formed after reports were featured on various news outlets. Last year, chef Jamie Oliver explored the issue in an episode of his ABC show, "Jaime Oliver’s Food Revolution." The opposition intensified when photos of what looked like pink toothpaste spread across social media sites with claims that it was the pink slime; it was not.

Beef Products Inc., took out a full page advertisement in The Wall Street Journal last week to make a case for LFTB. The ad featured a statement on the economic impact by Beef Products Inc. founder Eldon Roth.

“It is simply amazing how this mis-information campaign can take a company and product that has long been recognized for its quality and safety and turn the public perception so negative that it now may result in the loss of over 3,000 jobs (direct employment and companies that rely upon our business) and affected their families and communities,” wrote Mr. Roth.

The ad also featured a letter from a woman named Nancy Donley, the founder and President of STOP Foodborne Illness. Ms. Donley wrote about her child, who died from E. Coli, and defended Beef Products Inc.’s record when it comes to food safety.

Beef Products Inc. has started a blog called “beef is beef” to defend itself and challenge the notion of “pink slime.”

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Source: CS Monitor