Beef Company Blames “Pink Slime Uproar” For Closing Plants

A South Dakota beef company says it plans to close processing plants in three states because of the controversy surrounding a product that critics have dubbed "pink slime."

Beef Products Inc. spokesman Rich Jochum said Monday that 650 jobs will be lost when it closes its plants in Amarillo, Texas; Garden City, Kansas; and Waterloo Iowa. The closures will be effective May 25.

A plant in South Sioux City, Neb., will remain open.

The company blames what it calls unfounded attacks over a product that it calls "lean, finely textured beef." In the process, bits of beef are heated and treated with a small amount of ammonia.

Beef Products is based in Dakota Dunes, S.D.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)