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Beef Products Inc. (BPI) is an American meat processing company based in Dakota Dunes, South Dakota. Prior to high media visibility of its products, it was a major supplier to fast food chains, groceries and school lunch programs. It had three additional plants, which closed in 2012. ==History== Beef Products Inc. was established in 1981 by its current CEO Eldon Roth.〔http://www.beefproducts.com/history.php〕 In 2007, after the USDA reviewed BPI's processing technique, the company was exempted from routine testing of hamburger meat.〔 In 2009, the ''New York Times'' reported that as early as 2003, school lunch officials and other customers had complained that the product tasted and smelled like ammonia, after which the company devised a plan to make a less alkaline version. Later on, the USDA determined that at least some of BPI's product was no longer receiving "the full lethality treatment," and the newspaper reported that BPI's products had tested positive for E. coli three times and salmonella 48 times since 2005. This prompted the USDA to revoke the exemption and review the company's practices.〔 In July 2011, after widespread coverage of an unrelated E. coli outbreak in Germany linked to sprouts, Beef Products Inc. began voluntarily testing its beef products for six additional strains of E. coli contamination because the FDA had not taken any formal actions for increased safety actions.〔 The testing began at one of its plants, with a planned expansion to the rest of its US plants when the test kit manufacturer could increase its production to meet the demand. In 2012, after a series of ABC News reports, concern amongst the public led McDonald's, Burger King, Taco Bell, Wal-Mart, Safeway, and several other grocery stores to abandon the product. Company officials suspended production at three of its four plants. The United States Department of Agriculture issued a statement supporting the product's safety, and the company launched a public relations offensive with the help of governors Rick Perry, Terry Branstad, and Sam Brownback, who joined ABC News on a tour of the remaining plant. Beef Products Inc. closed its facilities in Amarillo, Texas; Garden City, Kansas; and Waterloo, Iowa on 25 May 2012.〔 On 13 September 2012, the company announced it would be suing ABC News for $1.2 billion in a defamation lawsuit. It was a major supplier to McDonald's and Burger King,〔 as well as restaurants and grocery stores, and its products were reportedly used in 75% of the United States' hamburger patties in 2008.〔 The School Lunch Program, another large buyer of Beef Product's goods, used about 5.5 million pounds in 2009.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Beef Products」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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