Oliver’s programme triggered negative PR and a consumer boycott of MSM, leading to many supermarkets dropping products containing “pink slime” from their shelves.
ABC is accused by Beef Products Inc of having “decided to destroy this business, and decimate its product in the marketplace. [They] did this with malice, and they knew what they were doing.”
The company claims its sales dropped by 80 per cent as a result of “unfair coverage”, forcing it to close three of its four plants and lay off 700 workers.
The 257-page lawsuit argues that the term “pink slime” is pejorative, preferring the phrase “finely textured lean beef” to describe a product that is essentially scraped from animal carcasses.