I'm not talking about the $1.2 billion lawsuit against the news mogul that Beef Products, Inc. (BPI) filed in early September. The lawsuit at hand is one that former senior counsel for BPI, Bruce Smith, has filed and is seeking $70,000 in damages for his lost job.
Smith cites a photo used by ABC, Jim Avila, Diane Sawyer and many other 'journalists' to depict lean, finely textured beef (inappropriately called "pink slime) - you've probably seen the picture in countless stories and blog posts. Here it is again:
The important thing is that the photo above is not a picture of beef.
Smith is outraged because this photo does not represent what lean, finely textured beef actually is and this product has not ever been produced by BPI. In fact, according to beefisbeef.com, no one really knows what this product is or where it is produced. But it's definitely not a picture of beef.
Smith has also written a book to make known the events of the "pink slime" scandal and how the media behaved less than professionally. He also talks about what transpired at BPI during the almost immediate backlash against the company. The book, appropriately titled, "Pink Slime Ate My Job" is available on Kindle and is supposed to be a paperback eventually (according to Amazon). It's definitely one I'm adding to my reading list.
Best of luck to Smith and all the rest of the BPI employees in their lawsuits. No doubt Christmas will be tough for many of BPI's former employees and the road to redemption is one of long, hard struggle.
Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~
Interesting - I'm kind of surprised this hasn't come up before. It's another example of consumers sadly believing whatever the media says, and I'm very disappointed that such well-known journalists didn't check their facts (or, let's be honest, have someone else check them!). Why wouldn't BPI come out right away and make a huge deal about not knowing what that photo is? Or did they, and somehow I missed it? Thanks for pointing it out to me!
ReplyDeleteCara - yes they did point it out but after this mess blew up on in the media, no one outside beef production or agriculture was really listening to what BPI had to say (for the most part). It's a shame when society would rather believe what uninformed Diane Sawyer will say over a several well-educated scientists who have made food safety their life's work.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading!