Preview

Bpi Case Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
968 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Bpi Case Analysis
Eldon Roth, the CEO of Beef Products Inc has been producing Lean Fine-Textured Beef through a process he invented at least 20 years ago. The FDA and the USDA has stated that this product is completely safe. The product has not been attributed to a single illnesses or death. This fact is impressive given that ground beef is especially susceptible to E. coli contamination. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, E. coli causes an estimated 73,000 illnesses and 61 deaths a year.
In 2008, The Washington Post even touted this products’ safety record, and speculated whether its technology could be “the key to a safer meat supply.” Many nonprofit public health organizations such as STOP Foodborne Illness (a nonprofit founded by Nancy Donley after her six year old son died from eating E. coli) have given this product their stamp of approval. Likewise, many Industry watchdog groups such as the International Association of Food Protection have given BPI its prestigious Black Pearl Award, its highest possible award. Yet within the last month, social media activists and mainstream news organizations have created a media frenzy around this product which they have dubbed “Pink Slime.” Before the invention of Lean Fine-Textured Beef, beef trimmings were used as dog food and were generally considered unfit for human consumption. This was due to the fact that this meat had a higher tendency to be infected with e-coli, salmonella and other bacteria. Eldon Roth created a process by which the beef trimmings are put in a 100 degree heated centrifuge which mechanically removes the fat from the meat. The meat is then treated with ammonia gas (or citric acid which is now used by BPI competitors) to kill the e-coli, salmonella and other bacteria and then sold to ground beef producers who use up to 25% of it as an additive in their ground beef. It is estimated that 70% of ground beef sold in the U.S. contains LFTB. In 2002, USDA microbiologist Jerald

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Tevya's Ranch Case Study

    • 1151 Words
    • 5 Pages

    With an increase in the demand for natural beef, it is surprising that kosher options have been slow in coming but this month saw the launch of Tevye’s Ranch product line which offers affordable glatt kosher, grass fed, antibiotic-free organic beef.…

    • 1151 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The treatment of animals in animal farms is greatly disrupted because of major food industries and the financial costs. Cows are genetically and evolutionary modified to eat grass but the farm owner are forcing the cows to eat corn because it is cheaper and corn makes them fat more quickly. This is just one example of the many of the mistreatments of farm animals that was talked about in this documentary. Since cows are meant to eat grass and not corn this high corn diet results in E. coli formation. E. Coli formation is not only a product of the diet but also a product in farm animal lifestyle. The cows stand ankle deep in their manure for most parts of the day if not the entire day, meaning that if one cow was to develop the disease than the entire cow population on the farm will also acquire the disease. This disease is then carried form the farms to the slaughterhouses and form the slaughterhouses to our grocery stores. The documentary reports that this transfer in disease resulted in a death of a young boy from eating a burger at Jack in the Box.…

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Food Inc Summary

    • 598 Words
    • 3 Pages

    I recall very vividly when those E. Coli outbreaks started occurring because as a mother of young children, the horror of learning that a little boy died from eating a hamburger was very frightening. My heart ached for the mother in the story that lost the little boy; all she wanted was for the company that produced the tainted meat to say they were sorry, and explain what they will do to prevent it from happening in the future. Then, we finally learned the truth that feeding an unnatural diet of…

    • 598 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The biggest concern for the beef trimming were foodborne illness such as E.coli or salmonella. Anhydrous Ammonia were used as an antimicrobial intervention however, anhydrous ammonia is also used to fertilize corn. When anhydrous ammonia is mixed with water, it is called ammonium hydroxide and it safer compare to concentrated anhydrous ammonia. The FDA has approved this process in 1974 after conducting researches with Life Science Research Office…

    • 790 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The United States has grown so much in the food industry from the past. One of the industries which accounts for most of the market in the US is the meat packing industry. The top 5 meat industries controlled 25% of the market back in 1970, and now that number has risen to an outstanding 80% of the market (“100 Days of Real Food”). This is indeed a great accomplishment for our country; however what is the secret behind these companies success? The answer is simple; Make and sell cheap food products and end up getting enormous income! When companies use this method, the food that they are selling is not of best quality and is always unhealthy for the consumers. Michael Pollan a food expert says, “Cows are not designed by evolution to eat corn. They’re designed by evolution to eat grass. And the only reason we feed them corn is because corn is really cheap and corn makes them fat quickly … The industrial food system is always looking for greater efficiency. But each new step in efficiency leads to problems. If you take feedlot cattle off their corn diet, give them grass or five days, they will shed eighty percent of the E. coli in their gut” (Foodincmovie). There have been many cases where children have died just by eating food that has been processed by the food industries. Barbara Kowalcyk, a woman whose 2-year old son went from a perfectly healthy boy to...…

    • 355 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Celebrated author and TV personality Julia Child once joked: “Always remember: If you're alone in the kitchen and you drop the lamb, you can always just pick it up. Who's going to know?” Kitchen practices in relation to food health and safety, in truth, have been evolving. Microbial activities, including bacterial benefits and detriments, have been undergoing a huge amount of demystification. A number of practices and measures believed to be safe - even healthy - in the past have been proved otherwise. A few of these have been compiled by food microbiologist and Food Safety Information Council vice president Cathy Moir:…

    • 573 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the documentary Food Inc., food-borne illness was one of the leading themes and also gave a story to go along with it. The director’s main argument was to show consumers where their food is coming from and the beginning stage of how it all begins, before getting on the table. “The Center for Disease Control estimated that each year roughly 1 in 6 Americans get sick from foodborne diseases” (CDC, 2016). There are many types of food-borne illnesses, but the one thing that they all have in common is that it can affect animals and humans badly. It mentioned in the documentary, that sometimes companies are aware of this happening, but most of the time, it will go ignored unless brought to attention. In the film, it explained that there are 13 slaughterhouses in the US, meaning thousands of different cattle are being grounded up into patties. Food-borne illness should not be occurring, sadly they are, and the numbers are always increasing.…

    • 578 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In relation to the dangers of E. coli outbreaks, Kenner cites the death of a food advocate mother and her young boy after consuming beef contaminated with E. coli. The approach is effective in such a way that Kenner puts a face on the issue. However, the rest of the health section does not provide epidemiological data regarding the incidence or prevalence of E. coli cases. Additionally, Kenner spends a lot of time focusing on genetically modified soybeans and Monsanto, yet data regarding health effects that arise from consuming GMO soybean products remains…

    • 1595 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Remember that nice juicy steak you had for dinner last night, well chances are that, that steak contained antibiotics that are the cause of many of the superbugs in the news lately. There is a lot of controversy around the use of antibiotics in livestock and the risks or benefits of using it, but for the most part the risks outweigh the benefits. Our large corporate ranch in northwestern Montana should not use antibiotics in our feed because most of it wouldn’t help the livestock anyway, antibiotics are already over used, and there is a growing market for antibiotic free meat.…

    • 654 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Food Inc

    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages

    But the movie descends into sensationalism. For example, it takes a sad case of a kid named Kevin who died of E Coli poisoning after eating a hamburger. It traces the industry's response -- which is to use ammonia to make sure that almost no E Coli survives -- and criticizes its solution while playing ominous music in the background along with unanswered cries of anguish from Kevin's mother. It fails to mention that (1) all E Coli dies when meat is cooked properly (2) using ammonia to kill E Coli is an ingenious idea that's very effective (3) the food with the greatest risk of E Coli poisoning is organic spinach.…

    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    My family, my neighbors, my city of Chicago risk our lives daily by eating contaminated and tainted meat produced in our town, but we cannot do anything to prevent it without you, congressmen. If you vote for the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act to pass, millions of lives will be saved from something as little as headaches and nausea to something as fatal as dysentery or tuberculosis. In an inspection in the late 1890’s, Armour and Company distributed 750 cases of rotten, embalmed beef to soldiers across our nation causing a countless number of deaths. Is this how we should treat the men who fight to protect our nation? However, meat is not the only killer lurking in our diet. Feeding our children dirty,…

    • 326 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Food Safety Bulletin

    • 835 Words
    • 4 Pages

    According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 6 Americans become sick or hospitalized. About 3,000 Americans die yearly of foodborne diseases. Our country governs agencies and is notorious for slapping on strict guidelines for the food industry. Factories go through vigorous inspections and tests periodically to ensure that they operate a safe environment. Even with these strict guidelines in place, foodborne illnesses still pass through the forceful inspections and expectations.…

    • 835 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    E. Coli Paper

    • 884 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Paper Summary: This article is written about the issues regarding E.coli being found in meat that is being sold to consumers in stores nation wide. Each section looks at a different department and what efforts they are making to try and prevent further cases of E.coli in meat products.…

    • 884 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Test Tube Meat

    • 316 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Recently a scientist by the name of Mark Post helped create a “test tube” beef burger. The burger was grown in a solution of nutrients and cost about 330,000 dollars to make. The burger was created by taking muscle cells from a cow and growing them into tissue. The meat had to be dyed to make it look like real beef. The meat contains no fat and is disease free. The meat was made in the Netherlands at Maastricht University. It was served to two volunteers and was flavored with egg powder and bread crumbs. The volunteers said that it tasted similar to regular beef, but it was not as juicy because of the lack of fat. This will lead to further research and we could see “test tube” meat in the markets in 10 to 20 years. PETA has even offered a 1 million dollar reward to the first person to create lab grown chicken. There is a long way to go in this field and it could lead to a source of food in the future.…

    • 316 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    DeWaal, Caroline Smith, director of food safety, Center for Science in the Public Interest. E-mail interview. 24 Apr.…

    • 913 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays