A year after controversy and misconceptions led to lean fine-textured beef being ousted out of many schools and supermarkets, the product produced by BPI is slowly making a comeback. For the new school year, schools in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Texas are once again buying the product, reports the Sioux City Journal via the news site Politico. The website cited government data in the initial report.
When the uproar over LFTB, named “pink slime” by its critics, struck, it was estimated that BPI lost about 95 percent f its school lunch business. The USDA, under pressure from parents, gave schools the option of purchasing ground beef that did or did not include LFTB. Only schools in three states – Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota – purchased the beef with LFTB. All three states continued to buy the product this year.