Beef Product Plants Will Close for Good

The Truth about rally held at Iowa State University last month apparently wasn't enough.

Beef Products Inc. announced that it will close three of its LFTB processing plants including one in and cut 650 jobs because of the controversy surrounding the ammonia treated meat process. The company blamed the closure on “unfounded attacks” in which LFTB has been coined “pink slime,” ABC News has reported. And retailers pulled the product in response to consumer concerns.

The filler is added to beef to increase the lean percentage, but the USDA doesn't require the lean beef product to be labeled since the ammonia is not considered a food additive.

BPI's process of treating meat scraps gleaned from trimmings with an ammonia gas to control bacterial growth was approved about 10 years ago. And the Food and Drug Administration declared ammonia hydroxide as generally recognized as safe more than 30 years ago.

BPI expects to close its plants by May 26, the Lincoln Journal Star reported.

Some readers who responded to a on the LFTB issue said they thought the product was safe and others said they didn't like not knowing whether the beef they bought contained the filler.  

Christie Vilsack, of Ames, who is running for Iowa's 4th Congressional District said in a Facebook post today "I'm disappointed that the smear campaign by forces outside Iowa against BPI has led to the closing of three plants and the loss of jobs for hard-working Iowa families. ..." 

How do you feel about the plant closures?