All of the meat processing companies have been slow to grapple with the growing pink-slime hullabaloo, even though there doesn’t seem to be much evidence that their products are particularly unhealthy, said Bill Marler, a Seattle lawyer who specializes in food safety and food poisoning cases.”My only complaint about this product is I think they could have been more up-front with the public,” Marler said. “When companies are not open about what their product is and what it contains, positive and negative, people get concerned and assume the worst.”
The meat industry failed itself by not staying abreast of social media and online forums for signs of trouble, said Jonathan Bernstein of Bernstein Crisis Management in Sierra Madre.
“They lost control of the message,” he said. “Perception is everything. If enough people perceive that something is wrong, it’s wrong. Reassurances that something’s safe from groups that are now distrusted are useless at this point.”
