SOUTH SIOUX CITY, UNITED STATES
Eldon Roth, founder and CEO of Beef Products Inc and his wife Regina pose with their son, Nick, son-in-law...
(Counterclockwise from bottom left) Eldon Roth, founder and CEO of Beef Products Inc (BPI) and his wife Regina pose for a photograph with their son, Nick Roth, son-in-law Craig Letch and daughter Jennifer Letch at their company headquarters in Dakota Dunes, South Dakota November 19, 2012. A year ago, Beef Products Inc. had four state-of-the art plants, more than 1,300 employees and was expanding aggressively. The meat company was the leading maker of "lean finely textured beef," a low-fat product made from chunks of beef, including trimmings, and exposed to tiny bursts of ammonium hydroxide to kill E. coli and other dangerous contaminants. Few Americans realized the product was a mainstay of fast-food burgers, school lunch tacos and homemade meatloaf. Today, the South Dakota company's revenues have plummeted from more than $650 million to about $130 million a year, and three of its plants are shuttered. Company officials blame the abrupt falloff on a series of ABC News broadcasts that began last March - stories that repeatedly called its product "pink slime." Photo taken November 19, 2012. REUTERS/Lane Hickenbottom (UNITED STATES - Tags: BUSINESS FOOD SOCIETY MEDIA)