ABC Faces Continued Billion-Dollar Lawsuit for Calling “Lean, Finely Textured Beef” “Pink Slime”

A South Dakota judge has given a green light to a suit against ABC News over “pink slime.”

In 2012, ABC broadcast a series of reports about the use of “lean, finely textured beef,” or as it was called in the reports, pink slime. Beef Products Inc., BPI Technology Inc. and Freezing Machines Inc., based in South Dakota, claim the beef additive they make, made from low-grade meat trimmings, is safe to eat and lowers the price of meat.

The three meat companies filed a $1.2 billion suit in 2012 against ABC, claiming the network, including anchor Diane Sawyer, ran a “disinformation campaign” against the additive. On Thursday, a judge in Union County, South Dakota rejected 21 of 26 motions to dismiss filed by the network and its claim that its broadcasts were protected free speech.

According to the suit, “There is not a more offensive way of describing a food product than to call it ‘slime,’ which is a noxious, repulsive, and filthy fluid not safe for human consumption.”

http://www.allgov.com/news/unusual-news/abc-faces-continued-billion-dollar-lawsuit-for-calling-lean-finely-textured-beef-pink-slime-140330?news=852798