Beef Products Inc. is eliminating up to 85 corporate jobs in
the wake of a market backlash against the hamburger filler the company makes by
extracting and sanitizing beef trimmings that would otherwise be dumped as pet
food or relegated to rendering.
The backlash went viral when the term “pink slime” was
picked up by the ABC television network.
The industry’s defence – that it’s “lean, finely-textured
beef” – wasn’t fast enough or convincing enough to turn the tide.
BPI closed three plants and reduced production at the
fourth, resulting in 650 layoffs.
Now the company says the three plants in Texas, Iowa and Kansas
will remain closed and only the home plant a South Sioux City, Nebraska, will
remain in production.
“We are deeply saddened by today’s events,” BPI co-founder
Regina Roth said in a statement emailed to Meatingplace. magazine
“This causes very personal heartache for us.
“We are not some big conglomerate, but a small,
family-owned business.
“We personally know and have worked side by side with
these people and our family business will never be the same with this loss.”
Another
maker of the controversial product, AFA Foods, is in bankruptcy protection from
its creditors.
The
company, owned by Yucaipa Cos., has a plant aat King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.
AFA says it plans to sell some assets to satisfy creditors.
