Personal Injury Law

Will consumers continue to buy Beef Products Inc.'s Ammonia Meat Product?

By Bill Marler

AP's Christopher Leonard and Mae Anderson in their story, 'Restaurants, food makers defend products after report that treated beef may still harbor germs,' asked the obvious question that the New York Times did not ask – 'Would customers of Beef Product Inc.' ammonia treated meat product, continue to buy it after the front page New York Times expose?'

Apparently the answer is, 'keep that low-cost meat product coming.' According to the AP:

… Restaurant chains and beef processors defended their products' safety Thursday after a report that an ammonia treatment thought to kill harmful germs in meat isn't as effective as the industry and regulators believed. …

... McDonald's said it doesn't plan to change its relationship with the company. …

… Cargill spokesman Mark Klein said the company plans to continue to work with Beef Products, whose meat it uses in hamburger patties. …

… Burger King uses a "small percentage" of Beef Products Inc.'s beef trimmings in its U.S. hamburgers and does not plan to change that, spokeswoman Denise Wilson said.

Other restaurants and the federal school lunch program, which buy millions of pounds of the ammonia meat product yearly, have not yet weighed in on future purchasing plans.

It will also be interesting to see what consumers (those who actually eat the ammonia beef product) do. The meat product industry is betting that consumers simply do not care what they put in their mouths.

Full post as published by Marler Blog on December 31, 2009 (boomark / email).