Meat packer blames ABC's 'pink slime' for nearly killing company

ABC News’ characterization of a South Dakota meat processor’s ground-beef product as “pink slime” almost put Beef Products Inc out of business, BPI’s lawyer said on Monday in the opening salvo of a closely watched trial. BPI claims ABC, a unit of Walt Disney Co, and its reporter Jim Avila defamed the company by using the term “pink slime” and making errors and omissions in its 2012 reporting. But ABC lawyer Dane Butswinkas said “pink slime” was a common term, used more than 3,800 times in the media prior to ABC’s reports. In the aftermath of ABC’s broadcasts, BPI closed three of its four processing plants and said its revenue dropped 80 percent to $130 million. The trial is expected to run eight weeks. Read more at Reuters…