September 19, 2012
www.gfb.org
Vol. 30 No. 38
BPI FILES DEFAMATION SUIT AGAINST ABC NEWS Beef Products Inc. (BPI) filed suit on Sept. 13 against ABC News, three of its reporters and other parties, alleging false and disparaging statements about Lean Finely Textured Beef (LFTB) caused a reduced demand that forced the South Dakota company to cut more than 700 jobs and close three processing facilities. The suit, filed in the Circuit Court of Union County, S.D., requests more than $1 billion in damages. ABC reporters Jim Avila and David Kerley and ABC’s World News anchor Diane Sawyer were named as defendants, as were former BPI Quality Assurance Manager Kit Foshee, former Food Safety Inspection Service microbiologist Carl Custer and former USDA microbiologist Gerald Zirnstein. A press release from BPI summarized the suit, which accuses the defendants of misleading the public despite being informed of conclusions from the USDA, FDA, food safety organizations and numerous beef industry experts that LFTB is safe and nutritious lean beef. In the reports, LFTB was referred to as “pink slime,” a term allegedly coined by Zirnstein. BPI’s production, the release said, declined from 5 million pounds of LFTB per week to less than 2 million pounds per week as a result of the news reports and subsequent declines in demand. BPI is being represented by Winston & Strawn, LLP, an international firm with offices in several U.S. states. “Through nearly 200 false, misleading and defamatory statements, repeated continuously during a month-long disinformation campaign, ABC and other individuals knowingly misled customers into believing that LFTB was not beef and not safe for public consumption, which is completely false,” said Winston & Strawn Chairman Dan Webb. “BPI has filed suit because their business has been severely damaged by this conduct.” BPI continues its ongoing efforts to correct the disinformation published about its companies and LFTB and to share factual information about LFTB. A copy of the complaint and facts about LFTB are available at http://www.beefisbeef.com. “The lawsuit is without merit. We will contest it vigorously,”ABC News Senior Vice President Jeffrey Schneider said in a statement published on the company’s website. In March, BPI closed plants in Amarillo, Texas, Waterloo, Iowa, and Garden City, Kan., while reducing production at its plant in South Sioux City, Neb., after significant drops in sales following the ABC reports. At least one other beef processing company, AFA Foods, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the wake of the reports on LFTB. AFA has a processing plant in Thomasville, Ga.