called beef products . for meat that comes from cattle see beef . beef products inc. type private industry meat processing founded 1981 1981 in amarillo texas founders eldon roth regina roth headquarters dakota dunes south dakota key people eldon roth ceo website www.beefproducts.com beef products inc. bpi is an american meat processing company based in dakota dunes south dakota . prior to high media visibility of its products it was a major supplier to fast food chains groceries and school lunch programs . it had three additional plants which closed in 2012 . contents 1 history 2 product 3 references 4 external links history edit beef products inc. was established in 1981 by its current ceo eldon roth . 1 2 in 2007 after the usda reviewed bpi s processing technique the company was exempted from routine testing of hamburger meat . 3 in 2009 the new york times reported that as early as 2003 school lunch officials and other customers had complained that the product tasted and smelled like ammonia after which the company devised a plan to make a less alkaline version . later on the usda determined that at least some of bpi s product was no longer receiving the full lethality treatment and the newspaper reported that bpi s products had tested positive for e. coli three times and salmonella 48 times since 2005 . this prompted the usda to revoke the exemption and review the company s practices . 3 in july 2011 after widespread coverage of an unrelated e. coli outbreak in germany linked to sprouts beef products inc. began voluntarily testing its beef products for six additional strains of e. coli contamination because the fda had not taken any formal actions for increased safety actions . 4 the testing began at one of its plants with a planned expansion to the rest of its us plants when the test kit manufacturer could increase its production to meet the demand . 4 in 2012 after a series of abc news reports concern amongst the public led mcdonald s burger king taco bell wal mart safeway and several other grocery stores to abandon the product . 5 6 7 8 company officials suspended production at three of its four plants . 9 the united states department of agriculture issued a statement supporting the product s safety 10 and the company launched a public relations offensive with the help of governors rick perry terry branstad and sam brownback who joined abc news on a tour of the remaining plant . 11 beef products inc. closed its facilities in amarillo texas ; garden city kansas ; and waterloo iowa on 25 may 2012 . 5 on 13 september 2012 the company announced it would be suing abc news for 1.2 billion in a defamation lawsuit . 12 it was a major supplier to mcdonald s and burger king 3 as well as restaurants and grocery stores and its products were reportedly used in 75 % of the united states hamburger patties in 2008 . 1 the school lunch program another large buyer of beef product s goods used about 5.5 million pounds in 2009 . 3 13 product edit main article pink slime beef products inc. is the creator of a product called lean finely textured beef also known as pink slime . the latter term was first used in 2002 by a food safety inspection service worker . 14 in 2002 it patented a process that turns materials that had previously gone for pet food or oil into products for human consumption . 15 in this process beef trimmings are warmed put through a centrifuge to remove fat then treated with ammonia to increase ph and kill bacteria . 16 17 the product is found as a lean meat source which has been added to ground beef constituting up to 25 percent of the final product . 1 18 this process is approved by the u.s. department of agriculture and food and drug administration . 19 carol tucker foreman director of the food safety institute for the consumer federation of america and nancy donley president of the industry funded group safe tables our priority are strong backers of this technology based approach to food safety . 1 11 journalists however have questioned the safety of meat treated with the process . 3 20 references edit a b c d shin annys june 12 2008 . engineering a safe burger . the washington post . http www.beefproducts.com history.php a b c d e moss michael december 30 2009 . safety of beef processing method is questioned . new york times . retrieved 2010 01 02 . the company beef products inc. had been looking to expand into the hamburger business with a product made from beef that included fatty trimmings the industry once relegated to pet food and cooking oil . the trimmings were particularly susceptible to contamination but a study commissioned by the company showed that the ammonia process would kill e. coli as well as salmonella . a b neuman william 15 july 2011 . food companies act to protect consumers from e. coli illness . new york times . retrieved 6 july 2012 . a b kesmodel david 8 may 2012 . beef products to shut plants over pink slime fallout . wall street journal . retrieved 6 july 2012 . feran tim 23 mar 2012 . kroger giant eagle won t sell pink slime meat . columbus dispatch . retrieved 6 july 2012 . gruley brian and elizabeth campbell 12 apr 2012 . the sliming of pink slime s creator . businessweek . retrieved 6 july 2012 . reilly jill 27 jan 2012 . victory for jamie oliver in the u.s. as mcdonald s is forced to stop using pink slime in its burger recipe . london daily mail . retrieved 6 july 2012 . blaney betsy 26 mar 2012 . pink slime maker halts production at some plants . associated press . retrieved 6 july 2012 . usda affirms safety of lean finely textured beef product for consumers xml press release . united states department of agriculture . 15 mar 2012 . retrieved 1 aug 2012 . a b avila jim 29 mar 2012 . dude it s beef governors tour plant reject pink slime label . abc news . retrieved 1 apr 2012 . meat processor sues abc news over pink slime reports . usa today . 13 september 2012 . retrieved september 13 2012 . leonard christopher ; anderson mae 1 jan 2010 . consumers back ammonia treated beef after report . associated press . retrieved 6 july 2012 . pink slime combo of connective tissue scraps hidden in your kids lunch . fox news channel . 8 march 2012 . retrieved 2 january 2013 . levenstein harvey 2012 . fear of food a history of why we worry about what we eat . chicago the university of chicago press . p. 59 . isbn 0226473740 . anatomy of a burger . new york times . 4 oct 2009 . retrieved 5 july 2012 . moss michael 3 oct 2009 . the burger that shattered her life . new york times . retrieved 5 july 2012 . avila jim 8 mar 2012 . is pink slime in the beef at your grocery store . abc news . retrieved 6 july 2012 . williams carol 28 july 2011 . pink slime in burgers stirs debate . abc news . retrieved 6 july 2012 . bob cesca 4 jan 2010 . i ll have a burger and fries with everything hold the ammonia . daily finance . retrieved 22 jan 2012 . external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title beef products & oldid 666117729 categories 1981 establishments in the united statesunited states meat packing companiescompanies established in 1981 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 9 june 2015 at 00 41 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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