A beef producer that claims the media frenzy that began with ABC News and Diane Sawyer labeling their products as "pink slime", is suing ABC, and others, for defamation, as reported by the Courthouse News Service.
The $1.2 billion lawsuit was filed by Beef Products Inc., BPI Technology Inc. and Freezing Machines Inc., in Union County Court, in Elk Point, S.D.
The "month-long vicious, concerted disinformation campaign" claimed that a beef additive – that was safe and nutritious – was nothing other than "pink slime."
The plaintiffs also allege that the additives have kept the price of beef low for two decades – because it reduces the number of animals that need to be slaughtered to produce it. The process removes lean beef from beef trimmings and allows an additional 20 pounds of lean meat from each cow. It also lowers the meat's fat percentage.
The plaintiffs further allege that in twenty years, and over 45 billion pounds of the additive have been produced and sold, there has never been a single instance of food-borne illness.
The suit states that ABC misled the public "into believing that LFTB (lean finely textured been) was not beef at all, but rather was an unhealthy 'pink slime' 'hidden' in ground beef as part of an 'economic fraud' masterminded by BPI. Defendants' campaign against BPI and LFTB was unparalleled in terms of its duration, its scope of false statements, and the size of the audience it reached through the ABC broadcasts and online reports. Between March 7 and April 3, 2012, ABC aired 11 broadcasts attacking BPI and LFTB. Defendants supplemented the broadcasts with 14 online reports and numerous social media postings. Over these 28 days, Defendants knowingly or recklessly made nearly 200 false, defamatory, and disparaging statements regarding BPI and LFTB."
The suit details five ways that ABC defamed their product: By repeatedly referring to it as "pink slime", telling their audience that the product was "filler" and "not really beef", making the product seem unsafe for public consumption, calling the product out for being non-nutritious and insinuating that the product had unfairly passed USDA guidelines.
Some of the negative statements, or terms, made by ABC and recounted in the lawsuit include: "slime", "not really beef", "filler", the additive wasn't "any good" for consumers, came from "connective tissues" and was likened to "gelatin."
The defamation of their product, according to the suit, led to a breakdown in relationships between the producer and grocery stores. Due to the "devastating impact" of the campaign many stores – including major chains – simply refused to carry the products any longer. ABC also released a list of stores that sold the product.
Along with ABC, ABC News and Diane Sawyer, defendants include two more reporters, a former employee with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and a former employee of BPI.
Actual and punitive damages are sought for defamation, product disparagement, tortious interference and violations of the South Dakota Agricultural Food Products Disparagement Act.
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