DAKOTA DUNES, S.D. (AP) - The family that owns a South Dakota meat producer has set up a $10 million fund for employees laid off when the company closed three plants in 2012 over reports of a beef product that critics dubbed "pink slime."
Dakota Dunes-based Beef Products Inc. announced the BPI Family Support Fund on Wednesday.
BPI founder Eldon Roth says the company is pleased to "finally re-connect with those former employees" and try to help them recover.
The company laid off about 750 workers and closed plants in Texas, Kansas and in Waterloo, Iowa in 2012, saying ABC's coverage of the producer's lean, finely textured beef product misled consumers into believing the product is unsafe. ABC stood by its reporting.
BPI sued ABC for defamation and the parties settled in June. Terms are confidential.