The following article is from meatingplace.com:
by Rita Jane Gabbett
Beef Products Inc. will shut three of its four plants affecting 650 jobs on May 25, two months after it suspended operations at these plants but kept employees on the payroll in hopes of reopening them.
“While we had hoped to be able to resume operation at those plants, that is not going to be possible in the immediate future and the temporary suspension of operations will in fact result in the elimination of those jobs effective May 25, 2012,” BPI spokesman Rich Jochum told Meatingplace by email.
The closed plants are those in Amarillo, Texas; Garden City, Kansas; and Waterloo, Iowa. Operations will continue in Sioux City, Neb. at reduced capacity.
The actions follow a media and social media storm that dubbed BPI’s lean finely textured beef product “pink slime” and resulted in major foodservice and retail chains no longer using ground beef that contained the product.
“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,” said Jochum. “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.”
He went on to say, “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.”
“This is a sad day for the state of Iowa,” said Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad in a statement. “The fact that a false, misleading smear campaign can destroy a company’s reputation overnight should disturb us all.”
Branstad has held news conferences in recent weeks in an attempt to set the record straight on the safety and nutritional value of the product.
Source: meatingplace.com
Posted by Haylie Shipp
