DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa Governor Terry Branstad and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack say they are launching a campaign
against “misinformation” about a beef product known as pink slime.

Speaking Wednesday at an Iowa Statehouse news conference, the two argued a product they referred to as “lean, finely textured beef” is safe, nutritious and low in fat. Vilsack says the USDA wouldn’t allow it if the product wasn’t safe.

The term “pink slime” was coined by a government microbiologist who was grossed out by the product.

Besides holding the news conference, Branstad will join with other governors Thursday to tour a Beef Products Incorporated plant in South Sioux City, Nebraska where the product is produced. An uproar about the product prompted Beef Products to suspend operations at plants in Amarillo, Texas; Garden City, Kansas and Waterloo, Iowa.

Branstad says he’ll eat some of the meat to demonstrate it’s safe.

Hy-Vee says some customers were unhappy with the grocery chain’s decision not to sell ground beef with the ingredient, so the company now plans to offer beef with and without the ingredient.

Spokeswoman Ruth Comer said Wednesday the Iowa-based chain heard complaints from consumers in communities where the product is made.

Federal regulators say the product meets food safety standards, but critics say it’s an unappetizing example of industrialized food production.