Pink Slime

The prevailing corporate crisis response wisdom these days is for PR to state at the outset of a crisis, “We’re are investigating the situation and are working toward a satisfactory resolution,” or words to that effect.

Not so in the case of Beef Products Inc., the maker of “pink slime,” as it has become widely known by the public, or “lean, finely textured beef” as it is called by the company itself. On Monday, March 26, the company was in a fighting mood during a news conference that announced the temporary closing of several of its plants due to the public outcry about the product.

The nation's second-largest hamburger chain is the latest company to join the public relations war over so-called "pink slime" -- an ammonia-treated beef filler product that the meat industry calls "finely textured beef" -- that is at the center of one of the biggest U.S. food fights in recent history.

Wendy's ran an ad in eight major daily newspapers around the US.

The Wendy's ad -- which appeared in USA Today, the Chicago Tribune and other newspapers -- plays on the chain's popular catch phrase from the 1980s, reading: "Where's The Pure Beef? At Wendy's, that's where!"

"We have never used lean finely textured beef (pink slime) because it doesn't meet our high quality standards," Wendy's spokesman Bob Bertini told Reuters.